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COMPEND OF CHURCH HISTORY. 



COMPEND OF 



CHURCH HISTORY 



FOR 



Lutheran Young People* 



BY 



PEER O, STROMME, 






>° 3 » J ^ \ »,.' 



CHICAGO 
JOHN ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO. 

PROPRIETORS SKANDINAVEN'S BOOK DEP'T. 

1902 



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TKE~ LIBRARY >P 
CONGRESS, 

SEP. 2 1902 

rjoPVPfOHT FXT5Y 

CJ.ASS ^XXa No. 
CO*Y 8. 



Copyright 

By PEER O. STROMME 

1902. 



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CONTENTS. 

Page 

Foreword 5 

Introduction 6 

I. THE EARLY CHURCH. 

The Apostles 10 

The Early Christian Martyrs 13 

Constantine the Great and Julian the Apostate. . 19 
The Religious Services and Customs of the Early 

Church 22 

The Church Fathers 25 

Arianism and Athanasius 29 

Augustine and the Pelagian Controversy 33 

Monachism and Asceticism 37 

II. THE CHURCH DURING THE 
MIDDLE AGES. 

The False Prophet Mohammed 41 

Christianity Victorious throughout Europe 44 

Popery 52 

Superstitions and Heresies of the Roman Church 64 

The Crusades 68 

The Monastic Orders 75 

The General Church Councils 78 

The Reformers before the Reformation 82 



III. THE CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 

Page 

The Church Reformation by Martin Luther 89 

Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin 109 

The Early Struggles and Triumphs of the 

Lutheran Church 114 

The Growth of the Reformed Church 122 

The Jesuits 130 

Doctrinal Controversies in the Lutheran Church 135 

The Divisions of the Reformed Church 141 

The Church in Our Times 145 



FOREWORD. 

TT has seemed to me that a Compend 
of Church History, in handy form 
and in the English language, would fill a 
want among our Lutheran young people. 
For years I have therefore had it in my 
mind to prepare such a book, hoping 
that it might be read with interest and 
profit in the homes, and that it might be 
found useful in connection with the work 
done by our Young People's Societies 
and our Sunday Schools. I may add 
that while the plan and arrangement of 
the book are my own, I have, of course, 
consulted other Church Histories, and 
made use of that which seemed best. 

Peer O. Stromme. 

Madison, Wis., 1902. 



INTRODUCTION. 

'T^HE Christian Church is in reality as 
old as the world itself. It has ex- 
isted ever since the creation of man; for 
there always have been true believers, 
who have done God's will on earth, and 
who have gone to heaven when they 
died. And all these have been saved 
through faith in Christ. The church 
history of the time before the coming of 
Christ is the history of the Jews, God's 
chosen people, as recorded in the Old 
Testament. The true believers of that 
day were saved by faith in the Savior 
whom God had promised to send when 
he said: "The seed of the woman shall 
bruise the head of the serpent." They 
truly believed in Christ, and were 

6 



— 7 — 

members of his church; for it was true 
then, as now, that "there is no salvation 
in any other; for there is none other 
name under heaven given among men, 
whereby we must be saved." 

This earliest church history is, how- 
ever, usually called Bible history, since 
we have an account of it in the Bible. 
By church history we now therefore 
mean the history of the Christian church 
after the time of Christ. It is generally 
counted as beginning with the first Pente- 
cost after the Ascension; the day on 
which the Holy Ghost was poured out 
on the apostles, as recorded in the second 
chapter of The Acts. This is called the 
birthday of the Christian church. 

In the New Testament we learn some- 
thing of the history of this early church. 
It was founded at Jerusalem, where the 
apostle Peter began preaching to the 
people, urging them to repent of their 



— 8 - 

sins 5 and to be baptized in the name of 
Jesus Christ. 

"Then they," — says the Bible account 
— "that gladly received his word were 
baptized; and the same day there were 
added unto them about three thousand 
souls. 

"And they continued stedfastly in the 
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and 
in breaking of bread and in prayers. 

"And fear came upon every soul; and 
many wonders and signs were done by 
the apostles. 

"And all that believed were together, 
and had all things common; 

"And sold their possessions and goods, 
and parted them to all men, as every 
man had need. 

"And they, continuing daily with one 
accord in the temple, and breaking bread 
from house to house, did eat their meat 
with gladness and singleness of heart, 



— 9 — 

"Praising God, and having favor with 
all the people. And the Lord added 
daily to the church such as should be 
saved." 

Even while the apostles yet lived 
wicked men found their way into the 
churches, and tried to lead people astray 
from the truth; and the Epistles warn 
the Christians against founders of sects 
and teachers of false doctrines. The 
history of the church since that time re- 
peats this warning; and it also strengthens 
and comforts the believers by furnishing 
proof that the truth of God is victorious, 
and that the gates of hell can not prevail 
against his church. 



I. THE EARLY CHURCH. 

i. THE APOSTLES. 

T N regard to the personal history of the 
apostles we know little more than 
that which is told us in the New Testa- 
ment. It is supposed that all, with the 
exception of John, became "blood-wit- 
nesses," or martyrs; that is, suffered 
death for their faith. The first among 
them to lose his life in this way was 
James, the brother of John. He was 
executed at Jerusalem by King Herod 
Agrippa about ten years after the death 
of Christ. The other James, who is 
called the brother of the Lord, died as 
a martyr in the same city about twenty- 
five years later. Peter is believed to 

have preached the gospel to the Jews in 

10 



— 11 — 

Syria and Asia Minor, after which he 
went to Rome, where he was crucified 
in the year 66 or 67, during the time of 
the persecutions under Emperor Nero. 
The apostle of whose life we have the 
most full account in the Bible is Paul; 
but of his old age little is known. It 
is probable, however, that he also, like 
Peter, suffered death as a martyr in 
Rome, and at about the same time. 
The last survivor of the apostles was 
John, who after his exile on the Island 
Patmos made his home in the city of 
Ephesus. There he died at a ripe old 
age near the end of the first century. 
Of the other apostles we know only that 
they spent their lives in preaching the 
gospel of Christ, and at last sealed their 
faith with their blood, and thus went to 
their reward. 

The apostles began their work among 
their own people; for it was the will of 



— 12 — 

Christ that salvation was to be offered 
first to the Jews, and then to the gentiles. 
Of these latter the first to become 
members of the Christian church were 
the Centurion Cornelius of Caesarea 
and his kinsmen and near friends. In 
the ioth chapter of The Acts we read 
that Peter preached Christ to these 
gentiles, and taught them that "to him 
give all the prophets witness, that 
through his name whosoever believeth 
in him shall receive remission of sins. 
While Peter yet spake these words the 
Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard 
the word. — And he commanded them 
to be baptized in the name of the Lord." 
And thus "the gentiles also had received 
the word of God." 

Paul became the principal apostle of 
the gentiles. He made the city of 
Antioch the center of his mission work, 
and from this place he travelled through 



— 13 — 

Asia Minor, Macedon, and Greece, and 
established many churches. After the 
death of Paul the home of John in 
Ephesus became the headquarters of 
the mission work among the gentiles; 
and before John died there were 
Christian churches in all the larger and 
in many of the smaller cities around 
the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. 

2. THE EARLY CHRISTIAN MARTYRS. 

The first of the Christian martyrs 
was Stephen, an account of whose death 
is found in the 7th chapter of The Acts. 
He had preached Christ to the Jews in 
Jerusalem. For this reason they stoned 
him; and he died " calling upon God, 
and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried 
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin 
to their charge. And when he had said 
this, he fell asleep." 



— 14 — 

After the destruction of Jerusalem, 
by the Romans, in the year 70, the Jews 
were scattered, and became powerless 
to persecute the Christians. The 
gentiles, or pagans, however, became 
all the more zealous in their attempts to 
stamp out the gospel of Christ, which' 
was u unto the Jews a stumbling- 
block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." 
In the beginning the wise men of Rome 
and Greece regarded Christianity with 
contempt as being nothing but a Jewish 
sect. The ignorant masses, on the 
other hand, looked upon the Christians 
as being wicked blasphemers, and 
charged them with all sorts of infamous 
crimes. The Roman emperors soon 
began to fear that the new religion 
might become dangerous to the peace 
of the state; and so they set about to 
persecute and kill the Christians. 

The members of the church in Rome 



— 15 — 

were the first to suffer. In the year 64, 
A. D., nearly the whole city was de- 
stroyed by fire; and the emperor, Nero, 
was suspected of having himself caused 
this fire to be started. In order to clear 
himself of this suspicion he declared 
that the destruction had been brought 
about by the Christians; and thus he 
had a pretext for persecuting them. 
Some were crucified, others were torn 
in pieces by wild beasts in the arena for 
the amusement of the populace, and 
still others were covered with tar and 
set on fire to serve as torches in the 
emperor's gardens. 

The second persecution occured under 
Emperor Trajan in the beginning of the 
second century. The most notable of 
the martyrs at this time was Ignatius, 
the bishop of the church in Antioch. 
He was, in the year 114, thrown before 
wild beasts and torn in pieces. There 



— 16 — 

were other persecutions under the Em- 
perors Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus Pius, 
Decius, and Diocletian. The one begun 
by Decius was the first general perse- 
cution; that is, the first which was 
directed against all the Christian 
churches. It lasted about ten years, 
249-259, during which time Decius and 
his successor, Gallus, made determined 
efforts to destroy all Christians within 
the Roman empire. A large number of 
the bishops and teachers were put to 
death; the plan being to kill the 
shepherds, that the sheep might be 
scattered. 

The second and last of the general 
persecutions occurred under the Emper- 
or Diocletian in the beginning of the 
fourth century. In the year 303 this 
emperor gave orders that all Christian 
churches were to be destroyed, and their 
books burned; and large numbers of 



— 17 — 

Christians were killed because they re- 
fused to deliver up the sacred writings 
in their possession. 

Some there were, of course, who were 
frightened and tortured into denying 
their faith; but many more remained 
steadfast, and praised God in the midst 
of their sufferings, and joyfully accepted 
the martyr's crown. There were even 
many who became their own accusers, 
in order that they might suffer and die 
for their faith. 

In the midst of these persecutions, and 
as a result of them, the Christian church 
gained in strength and numbers. At 
the close of the third century the gospel 
of Christ had been preached and was 
believed in all parts of the Roman em- 
pire, in northern Africa, in India, in Gaul, 
and in the Roman provinces in the coun- 
tries now called Germany and England. 

The most noted of all the martyrs was 



— 18 — 

Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, who 
was burned at the stake in the year 155, 
during the reign of the Emperor Anto- 
ninus Pius. Like Ignatius he had in his 
youth been a disciple of the apostle John. 
When brought before the Roman judge 
in Smyrna and urged to deny Christ, he 
said: "Eighty-six years have I served 
him, and he has done me good only, and 
no evil. How, then, could I now curse 
him, my Lord and my Savior?" When 
his executioners were about to nail him 
to the stake he objected, saying, that the 
God in whom he believed would cer- 
tainly give him strength to remain stand- 
ing in the midst of the flames while life 
endured. He was then heard to pray 
and to thank God for the crown soon to 
be given him. The legend says that the 
flames refused to touch his body, and that 
it became necessary for one of the exe- 
cutioners to pierce his breast with a spear. 



— 19 — 

The example of Polycarp and of many 
others bore testimony to the truth that 
the gospel of Christ was the power of 
God unto salvation; and thus it came to 
be said that "the blood of the martyrs 
was the seed of the church." 

3. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND 
JULIAN THE APOSTATE. 

In the year 323 Constantine, surnamed 
the Great, became the ruler of the 
Roman empire. He had for some years 
been waging war against his rival em- 
perors, and on one of his warlike expe- 
ditions he is said to have had a vision. 
He saw on the heavens a shining cross 
with the inscription: "In this sign thou 
shalt conquer." He placed a cross in 
his banner, and soon succeeded in sub- 
duing all his rival claimants to the throne. 
He then formally declared Christianity 
the official state religion of the empire. 



— 20 — 

He built many fine churches and pro- 
vided for their support, and granted 
many privileges to the clergy. The 
Christians were given great honor, and 
received positions of profit. This state 
of affairs was not, however, an unmixed 
good; for there were many who now 
joined the church because of the worldly 
advantages which this offered. 

As for Constantine himself, he seems 
at first to have, regarded Christianity as 
nothing more than a means of advancing 
his own political schemes. He called 
himself a Christian, and was friendly to 
those of the faith; but he had no clear 
knowledge of the truth. It was not until 
shortly before his death that he was bap- 
tized; his idea being that it must be a 
wise thing to wait until the last moment, 
and then let the church wash his sins 
away. 

After the death of Constantine the old 



— 21 — 

pagan religion made one last effort to. 
raise its head. The Emperor Julian, a 
nephew of Constantine, made it his aim 
to undo the work of his uncle. Julian 
had been brought up as a Christian, but 
became a bitter enemy of the faith; and 
during the two years of his reign, 361- 
363, he did everything possible to re- 
establish paganism. Among other things 
he encouraged the Jews in an attempt to 
rebuild the temple at Jerusalem for the 
purpose of disproving that which Jesus 
had said concerning this temple. But 
while the work was being carried on 
there occurred a fire and explosion 
which utterly destroyed the last ruins 
of the building. 

Julian did not persecute the Christians, 
but treated them with contempt. He en- 
couraged all manner of false doctrines, 
and sought to make the Christian church 
divided against itself. He appointed 



— 22 — 

enemies of Christianity to all positions 
of trust and profit in the state, and he 
himself worshipped the old heathen gods. 
However, all his efforts against the truth 
were vain. During a warlike expedition 
into Persia he was mortally wounded, 
and it is said that his last words were: 
"Thou hast conquered, Galilean." And 
he was right; before the end of the 
century all manner of idolatry had been 
prohibited by law throughout the Roman 
empire. 

4. THE RELIGIOUS SERVICES 
AND CUSTOMS OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 

In the earliest Christian church the 
religious services were held in the houses 
of the members; but as their numbers 
rapidly increased it soon became neces- 
sary to build meeting-houses, or churches. 
During the persecutions the Christians 
often held their meetings in cellars, caves, 



— 23 — 

or in the thick forests, in order not to 
attract attention. The services consisted 
in singing, prayer, reading of the scrip- 
tures, and sermons by one or more of 
the elders. Then the adult Christians 
partook of the Lord's Supper, and the 
celebration of this sacrament closed and 
crowned the services. New converts 
and infants were baptized; the first after 
having been instructed in the most im- 
portant articles of the faith. But in the 
beginning it was the custom to celebrate 
this sacrament in private. Later it be- 
came the rule to bring the infants to 
the church to be baptized. The early 
Christians observed the beautiful custom 
of holding frequent love feasts for rich 
and poor alike; and these always closed 
with the Lord's Supper. Important 
events in the life of Christ were com- 
memorated by special services; and Sun- 
day, the day of his resurrection from the 



— 24 — 

dead, soon came to be generally accepted 
as the one day of the week most ap- 
propriate to be set aside for the public 
church services. The great festival of 
the year was at first Easter; then Pente- 
cost was added; and finally, Christmas 
came to be generally celebrated as the 
third of the great church festivals. 

From the very first there were within 
the church heretics, who refused to abide 
unconditionally by the truth as set forth 
in the word of God. Against such the 
church waged continual war; and in 
order that it might have a symbol, or 
flag, around which the defenders of the 
truth could be rallied, the church has 
from time to time formulated its doctrine 
in definite confessions. The first and 
most important of these is The Apos- 
tolic Creed, or the three Articles of 
Faith, which still are the common con- 
fession of all branches of the Christian 



— 25 — 

church. The authorship of this Creed 
is unknown; but we know that it has 
come down to us from the first or second 
century, and that it is a short but correct 
epitome of the apostolic doctrine. 

5. THE CHURCH FATHERS. 

Those Christian teachers who during 
the first five centuries wrote in defense 
of the faith, and whose writings we still 
have, in whole or in part, are called the 
Church Fathers. The first of these are 
known as the Apostolic Fathers, because 
they were the immediate disciples of the 
apostles. They are: 1. Joses, surnamed 
Barnabas, the co-worker and assistant of 
Paul. 2. Clemens Romanus, one of the 
first bishops in Rome, whose letter to 
the church at Corinth was at one time 
regarded by some as being of equal au- 
thority with the Epistles of the Bible. 



— 26 — 

3» Hermas, the author of a religious 
story, "The Shepherd," which was for a 
long time read publicly in the churches, 
and which by Origen and other teachers 
was held to be one of the inspired 
writings. 4. Ignatius, the bishop of 
Antioch. 5. Poly carp, the bishop of 
Smyrna. 6. Papias, bishop of Hierapo- 
lis in Phrygia; a disciple of the apostle 
John and a friend of Polycarp and, like 
him and Ignatius, one of the early mar- 
tyrs. 

Of the other Church Fathers some 
few only need be mentioned : Justin the 
Martyr is the author of several books 
in defense of the faith. Irenaeus was 
a disciple of Polycarp, and became 
bishop of the church in Lyons, where 
he suffered death at the stake, in the 
year 202. Tertullian of Carthage is the 
first of the Fathers who wrote in the 
Latin tongue. He was a learned and 



— 27 — 

zealous man, but held some opinions for 
which there is no warrant in the Bible. 
He believed, for instance, in the coming 
of a Millennium, in which the Savior 
and his saints were to rule the world. 
Cyprian was, like Tertullian, born in 
Carthage of heathen parents. After 
his conversion he became the bishop of 
his native city. After having spent 
some years in exile he returned to his 
home and remained at his post of duty 
until, as he himself said, "it pleased God 
to give him the martyr's crown," in the 
year 258. 

In Alexandria was established a 
school for the education of Christian 
teachers and ministers. Of the teachers 
in this school the most important are 
Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen. 
The latter became famous throughout 
all Christendom for his learning and 
piety. After having taught for 25 years 



— 28 — 

in Alexandria he was, owing to a con- 
troversy with his bishop, removed from 
his position. He then went to Caesarea 
in Palestine, where he founded a theo- 
logical seminary. In 254, during the 
persecution under the Emperor Decius, 
he was put on the rack and tortured, as 
a result of which he died after some 
days of suffering. Origen has written 
a surprisingly large number of books, 
some of which contain doctrines that 
are condemned by the word of God, 
and have given rise to much controversy 
in the church. 

Next to Alexandria the great seat of 
Christian learning was Antioch. The 
most important of the later Fathers in 
this city is Chrysostome, whose sermons 
are still regarded as masterpieces of 
pulpit oratory. In 397 he became the 
patriarch in Constantinople. He preached 
against the sins of high and low, and 



— 29 — 

the empress, Eudoxia, became incensed 
against him. He died in exile, in the 
year 407. Thirty years later his body 
was brought back to Constantinople, 
and the emperor, Theodosius, kneeled 
at its feet and did penance for the 
wrongs done by his predecessors to this 
holy man. 

Of the later Church Fathers should 
be mentioned Ambrose, bishop of 
Milan, who is the author of the famous 
hymn, Te Deum, still in use by all 
Christendom; and Jerome of Dalmatia, 
who made the Latin translation of the 
Bible, generally known as the Vulgate. 

6. ARIANISM AND ATHANASIUS. 

In the beginning of the fourth century 
there lived in Alexandria a priest 
named Arius, who has been the cause of 
much trouble to the church. Although 
he called himself a Christian, he denied 



— 30 — 

the central article of the Christian faith. 
He declared that Jesus was not one with 
the Father; but, like the other creatures, 
had been created, and was different from 
them only in being the first and best. 
Before the time of Arius other heretics 
had taught that Christ and the Holy 
Ghost were not distinct persons of the 
Godhead. This heresy brought on the 
first of the so-called Trinitarian contro- 
versies. Now Arius tried to explain 
the mystery of the Trinity by denying 
the divinity of the Second and Third 
persons of the Godhead. Arius was 
promptly expelled from the church by 
his bishop, and his doctrine condemned; 
but still he gained many adherents. His 
principal opponent was Aihanasius, 
afterward bishop of Alexandria. Atha- 
nasius proved that the heresy of Arius 
denied Christ as the Savior of the 
world* The controversy on this point 



— 31 — 

divided nearly all Christendom into two 
hostile parties. This led the Emperor 
Constantine to convene a general Church 
Council at Nice, in the year 325. The 
meeting was attended by 318 bishops, 
and lasted two months. Arius was 
condemned as a heretic and sent into 
exile, and his writings were ordered to 
be burned. The council adopted a con- 
fession in which the divinity of Christ 
is especially emphasized. 

The controversy was not ended, how- 
ever. Some of the friends of Arius tried 
to effect a compromise by teaching that 
Christ, to be sure, was true God, but 
still not of equal dignity with the Father, 
nor essentially one with him. Athanasius 
never wavered in his staunch defense of 
the true doctrine. He was several times 
exiled, and as often recalled. He died 
in 373. The church has honored him by 
calling him the "Father of Orthodoxy. 1 ' 



— 32 — 

In 381 a new church council at Con- 
stantinople made some changes in the 
confession which had been adopted at 
Nice. These consist principally in addi- 
tions defining the doctrine concerning the 
Holy Ghost as being also one with the 
Father and the Son. This amended con- 
fession is the one which we now have un- 
der the name of the Nicene Symbol. The 
third of the so-called ecumenical, or com- 
mon, symbols of the church, the Athan- 
asian Symbol, was not written by Athan- 
asius, but is called after him, because it 
embodies his teachings and the general 
results of the Trinitarian controversies. 
The authorship, as well as the time when 
it was written, is unknown. The most 
probable view is that it dates from the 
sixth century, and that the author is 
Vigilius, bishop of Tapsus, who published 
several treatises under the name of 
Athanasius. 



— 33 — 

• 7- AUGUSTINE AND THE PELAGIAN 
CONTROVERSY. 

In the early part of the fourth century 
the orthodox church under the leader' 
ship of Aurelius Augustine waged war 
against Pelagianism. This heresy de- 
rives its name from Pelagius, a British 
monk, who had settled in Rome. He 
denied the doctrine of the Bible concern- 
ing original sin. Man did not, said he, 
fall in Adam; many became sinners of 
their own free choice, but all could of 
their own will and strength do that 
which is good, and thus earn salvation; 
Christ was not the Redeemer, but only 
a teacher and a model of virtue.— After 
some time spent in Rome Pelagius car- 
ried himself and his doctrine over to 
Africa; and there he was met and de- 
feated by Augustine, the then bishop at 
Hippo; who in his defense of the true 
faith against Pelagius and other heretics, 



— 34 — 

more especially the so-called Donatists, 
— became for all time the great teacher 
of the western church. 

Augustine was born at Tagaste, near 
Carthage in Africa, Nov. 13, 353. He 
was the son of a pagan father, who was 
converted shortly before his death ; and a 
Christian mother, Monica; a most excel- 
lent and devout woman. She did not, 
however, bring her infant son to baptism, 
as she, like Emperor Constantine, had 
the superstitious notion that one would 
do best to postpone this rite until near 
the hour of death. Augustine himself, 
in his old age, wrote: "Had I been bap- 
tized as a child, I would have escaped 
the commission of many of my sins." 
At the age of seventeen he went to 
Carthage to study grammar and rhetoric. 
Here he fell in with wicked companions, 
and led a life of sensual pleasure. At 
the same time he studied diligently and 



— 35 — 

gave lectures on the art of oratory. In 
383 he removed to Rome, and then to 
Milan, where he the following year was 
appointed teacher of rhetoric. His 
mother, who in the mean time had be- 
come a widow, followed him to Milan, 
and continued to weep and pray for his 
conversion. Augustine now began to 
study the Bible, and he was diligent in 
attending church in order to hear the 
eloquent sermons of bishop Ambrose. 
These made a deep impression on him; 
and after many spiritual conflicts he be- 
came a Christian, and was baptized on 
Easter Eve., 387. A year later he went 
back to Tagaste; and in 396 he was 
ordained bishop of Hippo, an office 
which he continued to hold until his 
death in 430. Here it was that he 
fought in defense of the truth against 
Donatists and Pelagians. 

The Donatists taught that the church 



— 36 — 

could not be a holy institution, if it did 
not succeed in ridding itself of all 
hypocrites; and that the sacraments 
were of no force, if the person who 
administered them were not a true 
believer. Against these, as well as 
against the Pelagians, Augustine 
triumphantly vindicated the true faith. 
In doing this over against the Pelagians 
he himself went wrong on one point. 
In his zeal for the biblical doctrine that 
man is saved by the grace of God alone 
through faith, he taught not only that 
some are predestinated to salvation 
according to the gracious will of God, 
but also that grace is irresistable, and 
that some men have from eternity been 
elected to eternal perdition. 

A hundred years after the death of 
Augustine the church councils at 
Orange and Valencia formally con- 
demned every manner of Pelagianism, 



— 37 — 

and endorsed the teaching of Augustine 
in regard to original sin and salvation 
by grace alone. At the same time they 
rejected his doctrine of predestination, 
in so far as it implied the election of 
some men to reprobation and perdition. 
Among the works written by Augustine 
are his Confessions, a large work in 
thirteen books; and a great number of 
treatises, sermons, and letters. His last 
work is a book "On the City of God," 
which is regarded as the greatest of all 
his writings. 

8. MONACHISM AND ASCETICISM. 

Even in the very earliest Christian 
churches there were men who practiced 
what is called asceticism. They im- 
agined that they could increase their 
holiness by living alone in out-of-the- 
way places, fasting, and renouncing all 



— 38 — 

earthly enjoyments. They were called 
Anchorites, or Hermits. They gave 
all their property to the poor, renounced 
marriage, and often inflicted awful tor- 
tures on themselves. One of these 
anchorites was Antonius of Egypt, who 
has been called "the Father of Mona- 
chism." He is said to have spent 86 
years in the desert or among the 
mountains. Twice in all this time he 
visited the haunts of men. In the year 
311 he went to Alexandria in order to 
strengthen the many Christians who 
were being executed, and in hopes of 
sharing their fate. Some years later he 
again visited the same city in order to 
testify against the heresy of Arius. He 
died in 356 at the age of 105 years. 
His reputation for piety induced many 
others to become anchorites. His dis- 
ciple Pachomius was the first to gather 
several of these into a community under 



— 39 — 

one roof. The building was called a 
cloister or monastery, and the man at 
the head of the community was called 
the prior. This is the origin of what is 
known as Christian Monachism. 
Women, also, soon followed the ex- 
ample; and these were called nuns. 

Monachism and asceticism at first 
flourished especially in Egypt and Syria. 
As one of the most famous of these 
fanatics may be mentioned Simeon of 
Syria, called Stylites. He built a high 
column, on the top of which he spent 
many years in order to raise himself 
above earthly things and be nearer 
heaven. 

Monachism was brought into Europe 
by Benedict of Nursia, who in the be- 
ginning of the sixth century established 
a monastery at Montecassino, and gave 
the rules which afterward came to 
govern all similar religious orders. 



— 40 — 

Candidates for admission into these 
homes were, after a preliminary trial, 
called the novitiate, required to make the 
three monastic vows: poverty, chastity, 
and obedience. In the beginning the 
monks did much good, no doubt. Many 
of them became zealous and successful 
missionaries. Later on, in the middle 
ages, but too many of the numerous 
monasteries became the home of debau- 
chery; but still it should be remembered 
that they were also, during the dark 
ages of ignorance, the principal pre- 
servers of literature and learning. 



II. THE CHURCH DURING THE 
MIDDLE AGES. 

i. THE FALSE PROPHET MOHAMMED. 

FN THE sixth century there existed a 
sad state of affairs in the churches 
throughout the Roman empire. There 
were many sects causing divisions and 
offenses contrary to the sound doctrine. 
But in the following century the situa- 
tion became even still worse. There 
was established a new religion, and this 
captured whole countries and threatened 
all Christendom. The inventor of this 
new and impious religion was Moham- 
med. He was born at Mecca, in Arabia, 
in the year 570. When a young man he 
travelled far and wide as a merchant, 

and became acquainted with Judaism 

41 



— 42- 

and Christianity; and being himself an 
enthusiast, he set about the task of in- 
venting a new religion. According to 
his own account he was one day in the 
cave of Hira, when he saw in a dream 
the angel Gabriel and heard himself 
saluted as the prophet of God. After- 
ward he had repeated visions, in which 
the angel revealed to him the successive 
chapters of the Mohammedan bible, the 
Koran. These he committed to memory, 
as he had not acquired the art of writing. 
The Mohammedan religion is called 
Islam, and its adherents are called Mus- 
selmans, or Moslems. The doctrine of 
Islam is: There is one God, and Mo- 
hammed is his prophet. Moses and 
Christ were great prophets, but inferior 
to Mohammed. Man can, by his own 
works, earn salvation; especially by pray- 
ing, fasting, giving alms, and making 
pilgrimages to Mecca and other holy 



— 43 — 

places; and above all by fighting for the 
extension of Islam. This religion pro- 
hibits the use of wine and other intoxi- 
cants, but permits polygamy. The para- 
dise which it promises is a place of un- 
bridled license and sensual enjoyment. 
Mohammed died in the year 632. 

Within a few years after the first ap- 
pearance of Mohammed as a prophet his 
religion had become the prevailing one 
in all parts of Arabia. It was extended 
by the aid of fire and sword, and con- 
quered all the old Christian lands in Asia 
and Africa. In these, as well as in Eu- 
ropean Turkey, it is to this day the ruling 
religion. 

A hundred years after the death of 
Mohammed a large army of the Sara- 
cens, who had embraced his religion, in- 
vaded Europe. Near Poitiers in France 
they were met and defeated by Charles 
Martel, king of the Franks. This is 



— 44 — 

known as the battle of Tours, 732, and 
is regarded as one of the decisive battles 
in the world's history. 

2. CHRISTIANITY VICTORIOUS THROUGH- 
OUT EUROPE. 

While the Christian religion was re- 
placed by Mohammedanism in Asia and 
Africa, it was making steady and rapid 
progress in Europe, where the light of 
the gospel gradually dispelled the dark- 
ness of paganism. 

The Goths were christianized in the 
fourth century, especially through the 
efforts of Bishop Ulfilas. He was, how- 
ever, a disciple of Arius, and the Chris- 
tianity which he taught was tainted with 
Arianism. At the same time he did the 
people a great service, as he translated 
the Bible into their tongue. From the 
Goths Christianity found its way to their 
allied tribes, the Vandals, Burgundians, 



— 45 — 

Lombards, and others. Arianisra was 
soon stamped out among them. This 
result was brought about largely through 
Clovis, the first Christian king of the 
Franks. In the year 496 he was bap- 
tized, and then he set about to introduce 
Christianity among his people. He ac- 
cepted the orthodox catholic religion 
from Rome, and made the Arianism of 
the other Germanic tribes a pretext for 
attacking them and making himself their 
master. 

The Christian religion had been 
brought to England as early as the 
second century. But when the Anglo- 
Saxons, in 449, invaded and conquered 
the country they killed or exiled the 
older inhabitants, and re-established 
paganism. It was a Benedictine monk, 
Augustine, who became the "Apostle of 
the Anglo-Saxons.'" In 596 he, with 
forty other monks, was sent to England 



— 46 — 

by Pope Gregory the Great, and they 
were remarkably successful in their mis- 
sion. The Anglo-Saxon clergy became 
famous for their learning and piety, and 
were above all others active in the work 
of carrying the gospel to other lands. 

Ireland had been christianized by 
Saint Patrick in the middle of the fifth 
century. This remarkable man was a 
Scotchman by birth. In his youth he 
had been sold as a slave in Ireland. Af- 
ter some years he escaped and made his 
way to Gaul, or France, and here he 
was soon ordained a priest. Then he 
returned to Ireland, where for 33 years 
he labored zealously as a missionary. 
He died March 17, 465, at the age of 
93 years. Ireland became "the Island 
of the Saints," and from its monasteries 
there went forth many missionaries. 
Scotland was christianized by the dis- 



— 47 — 

ciples of Saint Patrick in the latter part 
of the fifth century. 

The most famous of the Anglo-Saxon 
missionaries is Saint Winfrid Boniface, 
who became the " Apostle of the 
Germans." He was born near Exeter, 
England, 680. In 716 he went to Ger- 
many. Christianity had been preached 
in the southern and western provinces, 
but had not made much headway, and 
Boniface labored to bring order out of 
disorder in these districts, as well as to 
introduce the gospel into the northern 
and eastern provinces, where it was as 
yet unknown. He placed himself under 
the direction of the Roman pope, and 
was by him appointed archbishop of 
Mayence. From this place Boniface led 
the work of organizing the German 
church. When he was 74 years old he 
resigned his position as archbishop in 
order to go as a missionary to Friesland, 



— 48 — 

in the country now known as Holland. 
After laboring there one year with great 
success he was attacked by a company 
of barbarians, and killed, in the year 

755- 

The most powerful of the German 

tribes, and the last to become Christians, 
were the Saxons. They were still 
pagans at the time when Boniface 
suffered martyrdom. In the beginning 
of the following century they were chris- 
tianized by the emperor Charlemagne. 
Much blood was spilled, however, in the 
thirty years' war which he was obliged 
to wage against the Saxons in order to 
accomplish this result. But from that 
time to this day Saxony has led the 
world in Christian learning and in deeds 
of Christian charity. From Saxony have 
come the greatest of the champions of 
the true faith. 

The "Apostle, of the North" is Saint 



49 



Ansgar, born in Picardy, in France, 801. 
Harald Klak, king of Denmark, was 
baptized in 826, while on a visit to Ger- 
many for the purpose of securing as- 
sistance in his wars against his rival 
kings in Jutland. In return for this as- 
sistance he promised to introduce Chris- 
tianity into his country. Ansgar was 
chosen to lead the work of conversion 
among the Danes. He was zealous and 
tireless, and accomplished much in a 
short time. He founded a Christian 
school in Heidaby, and built churches, 
and preached, and endured many hard- 
ships. When King Harald was driven 
out of the country Ansgar was compelled 
to follow him, but soon found another 
field for his mission work. He went to 
Sigtuna in Sweden, and there he labored 
for two years with great success. He 
was then made archbishop of Hamburg 
and afterward of Bremen, and from these 



— 50 — 

places he directed the work in the coun- 
tries of the North. He died in 865 . : — 
Shortly after this time Gorm the Old 
became king of all Denmark. He was 
a pagan and persecuted the Christians. 
However, the German king, Henry the 
Fowler, soon forced him to desist. Still 
it was not until during the reign of 
Canute the Great, in the beginning of 
the eleventh century, that the Christian 
religion became firmly established in 
Denmark. 

In Sweden there was a long struggle 
between Christianity and paganism, and 
the conversion of the Swedes cannot be 
said to have been completed until the 
middle of the twelfth century, under 
King Inge Stenkilsson. 

Norway was christianized by its own 
kings with the assistance of the church 
in England. The first Christian king 
was Haakon the Good (936-961). He 



— 51 — 

had been baptized in England, and made 
some efforts to introduce the new re- 
ligion into Norway; but they were not 
successful. King Olaf Trygvason, who 
reigned from 995 to 1000, persuaded and 
forced the greater part of the people to 
accept Christianity; and his work was 
continued and concluded by King Olaf 
Haraldson, also called Saint Olaf, who 
died in 1030. Iceland, Greenland, the 
Faeroe, and the Orkney Islands had been 
colonized from Norway, and were chris- 
tianized at the same time with the 
mother country. 

The Slavs of eastern Europe were 
christianized during this same period — 
the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries. 
The two brothers Cyrillus and Metho- 
dius have been called the " Apostles of 
the Slavs." Most of the Slavonic tribes 
were converted by missionaries from the 
Eastern, or Greek, church, with its head- 



— 52 — 

quarters at Constantinople, and have 
never acknowledged the supremacy of 
the pope of Rome. The Russians were 
christianized in the early part of the 
eleventh century by Grandduke Vladi- 
mir and his son and successor Jaroslav. 

3. POPERY. 

We read in the Bible that as the dis- 
ciples of the Christian faith increased in 
numbers, the apostles ordained presby- 
ters, or elders, in the several churches, 
who were to be overseers and teachers 
in the congregations committed to their 
charge. They were also called bishops. 
In order that these might devote their 
whole time to their work as teachers, 
there were appointed deacons, whose 
duty it was to minister to the wants of 
the sick and the poor. (The Acts 6, 
1-6). In the course of time there came 
to be a more and more sharp distinction 



-^53 — 

between the clergy and the laity. Little 
by little the number of offices in the 
church increased. There were assistant 
deacons; and lectors, whose duty it was 
to preserve the sacred writings and 
read them in the meetings; and cantors, 
who were to lead in the singing of the 
psalms. Then, again, there came to be 
a difference of rank among the presby- 
ters, or elders. In the larger churches 
there usually were several of these; and 
it naturally became necessary to select 
one as chief among them; and this one 
was distinguished from the others by 
being called the bishop. Later on the 
bishops in the capitals or largest cities 
of the several provinces came to be 
regarded as of higher rank than the 
others, and were styled archbishops. 
Then the archbishops in the five most 
important centers, Rome, Constanti- 
nople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusa- 



— 54 — 

lem, were regarded as of greater dignity 
than the rest, and assumed the title of 
patriarchs. Finally, the patriarch in 
Rome claimed to rank higher than all 
the others, and insisted on being called 
pope, (papa, i. e. the father of the whole 
church). The only one of the patriarchs 
who disputed the title of the Roman 
bishop to the highest rank was the one 
at Constantinople. This dispute at last 
led to the division of the church into 
two great bodies, the Roman Catholic 
and the Greek Catholic. 

There were many circumstances in 
favor of the claim made by the Roman 
bishop. Rome was the capital of the 
world, "the Eternal City," from which 
people in all lands had been accustomed 
to receive orders. In Rome Peter and 
Paul were believed to have labored and 
suffered martyrdom. Furthermore, the 
bishops in Rome had, as a rule, been 



— 55 — 

men distinguished for their talents and 
piety. As a result of these circum- 
stances there had been a general dispo- 
sition to accord them the highest 
dignity in the church councils. After a 
time, however, the Roman bishops were 
not satisfied with this honor, but began 
to claim a primacy over the church as a 
divine right. Leo, called the Great, 
who was bishop in Rome in the middle 
of the fifth century, is the first who is 
known to have made this claim in 
express words and supported it with 
argument. He declared, as do the 
popes to this day, that the Lord himself 
had appointed the apostle Peter ruler of 
the church; and that the bishops of 
Rome were the heirs and legitimate 
successors of Peter, as this apostle had 
founded the church in Rome and been 
its first bishop. 

The real founder of the papacy was 



— 56 — 

Gregory the Great, 590-604. He not 
only put forward his claim to be the 
Vicar of Christ and the ruler of the 
church, but he succeeded in having his 
claim generally allowed by all Christian 
lands. Gregory was in several respects 
a remarkable man. He had inherited a 
large estate. This he sold, aild devoted 
the money to building monasteries, in 
one of which he himself became a monk. 
Then, after serving for some years as a 
priest, he was, against his own protest, 
elected bishop of Rome. He called 
himself "the servant of the servants of 
Chiist," and wanted no honors for him- 
self personally; but insisted on and 
defended the divine right. of the Roman 
pope to be obeyed as the supreme ruler 
of the whole Christian church. 

The next man of importance in the 
long list of popes is Nicholas I., in the 
middle of the ninth century. He wrote 



— 57 — 

and spoke much in defense of the fiction 
that the pope is the direct successor of 
Saint Peter. He compelled kings and 
archbishops to humble themselves before 
him and obey him. A disagreement 
between him and the patriarch at Con- 
stantinople eventually caused the schism 
between the Roman and Greek churches, 
which was formally declared in the 
year 1054. 

The first half of the tenth century 
witnessed the lowest degradation of the 
papacy. During this time two infamous 
women ruled in Rome; and they placed 
many of the partners of their infamy on 
"the throne of Saint Peter." These 
popes led scandalously wicked lives, and 
all sorts of vices flourished in the papal 
palace. When the German king, Otto 
the Great, was crowned Roman emperor, 
in 962, he put an end to this state of 
affairs, and insisted that no pope should 



— 58 — 

be elected without the emperor^s ap- 
proval. Emperor Henry III., 1039-1056, 
went still farther, and himself appointed 
the pope without consulting the Roman 
clergy. 

The most remarkable man among all 
the Roman popes is Gregory VII. His 
name before he became pope was Hilde- 
brand. He was born in Tuscany about 
the year 1020; becanre a monk at Cluny; 
was called to Rome, and was the chief 
adviser of Pope Leo IX., by whom he 
was made a cardinal. From this time 
on Hildebrand virtually directed the af- 
fairs of Italy and the church. Under 
five successive popes he maintained con- 
trol, until 1073, when he allowed him- 
self to be elected the successor of Pope 
Alexander II. Before this time, in 1058, 
he had changed the manner of holding 
the papal elections, placing them in the 
hands of the cardinals. These were at 



— 59 



that time the seven bishops in the Roman 
province and the twenty-eight priests 
and deacons of the princical churches in 
Rome. In the year 1074 Hildebrand, 
who now called himself Gregory VII., 
published an order forbidding priests to 
marry, and threatening with the ban of 
the church all persons who received the 
sacrament at the hands of a married 
member of the clergy. Even Pope 
Gregory, however, was not able to en- 
force this rule everywhere. In the fol- 
lowing year he called a council at Rome 
which prohibited the interference of the 
laity with the appointment of bishops or 
other church officials. He thus freed the 
church from the domination of the Ger- 
man emperors, which a few years before 
had been almost unquestioned. Emperor 
Henry IV. thereupon called a diet at 
Worms, and declared the pope deposed. 
For this the pope punished him by ex- 



— 60 — 

communication and by giving assistance 
to his enemies, who were at the time 
waging war against him. The emperor 
was compelled to humble himself and 
sue for pardon. He went to Italy; and 
for three days in the dead of winter he 
stood outside of the door of the papal 
palace in Canossa, before the pope finally 
admitted him and gave him absolution. 
However, when the emperor had recov- 
ered sufficient strength he marched an 
army against Rome; and Pope Gregory 
fled to Salerno, where he died in 1085. 
Pope Gregory maintained that as head 
of the church and as the vicar of Christ 
he had absolute power and the right to 
demand blind obedience from kings and 
emperors as well as from all others. 
Those who would not obey him were 
excommunicated, he claiming the right 
to exclude them from the church on 
earth and to shut them out from heaven. 



— 61 — 

Though it can not be said that Pope 
Gregory VII. was a wicked and profligate 
man in his private life, as many of the 
other Roman bishops have been, yet 
none has demonstrated more clearly than 
he that the pope is the antichrist, of 
whom the Bible speaks as "that man of 
sin, the son of perdition; who opposeth 
and exalteth himself above all that is 
called God, or that is worshipped; so 
that he as God sitteth in the temple of 
God, shewing himself that he is God." 
(n. Thess. 2, 3. 4). 

The successors of Pope Gregory VII. 
continued to fight for his idea, that all 
earthly rulers derive their power from 
the church. The climax seemed to have 
been reached under Pope Innocence III., 
1 198-12 16, who exalted himself above 
church and state. All kings and rulers 
were his servants. If they disobeyed 
him, as did the English king, John Lack- 



— 62 — 

land, he placed not only them but all 
their subjects under the ban. This was 
called the interdict; and while it lasted 
the priests in the country under the ban 
were not allowed to hold religious ser- 
vices or adminster the sacraments to 
others than such as were at the point of 
death. Pope Innocence was not even 
satisfied with being the spiritual ruler of 
all Christendom, but also made himself 
the sovereign of the States of the Church 
in Italy. 

However, pope Boniface VIII., 1294- 
1303, went even still farther. He an- 
nounced, as an article of faith, that belief 
in the supreme power and infallibility 
of the pope was necessary to salvation. 
He published an order forbidding the 
clergy to pay any tax on church prop- 
erty, and thus became involved in a 
quarrel with King Philip the Fair of 
France; and this finally resulted in the 



— 63 — 

decline of the papal power. Philip be- 
sieged and imprisoned Pope Boniface 
and forced his successor, Pope Clemens 
V., to remove from Rome to Avignon in 
France, which city remained the resi- 
dence of the popes for the next seventy 
years. This period of humilation for 
the popes is known as their Babylonian 
Captivity. At the end of this period 
there was a division in the church itself; 
and there were elected two popes, one 
in Avignon and one in Rome, who ex- 
communicated each other. 

From this time on for more than a 
hundred years the popes were, as a rule, 
men who were notorious by reason of 
their crimes and wickedness. The worst 
among them, probably, was Alexander 
VI., the father of the infamous Ccesar and 
Lucretia Borgia. According to an im- 
partial historian the character of this 
"holy Father" was a "compound of 



— 64 — 

cruelty, treachery, licentiousness and 
other vices.' 7 

4. SUPERSTITIONS AND HERESIES 
OF THE ROMAN CHURCH. 

During the dark ages, while popery 
flourished, an ever increasing number of 
superstitions and heresies gained a foot- 
hold in the Roman church. The so- 
called traditions of the church were 
made the rule of faith, and were sup- 
posed to be of at least equal authority 
with the Bible. To the members of the 
laity, and to many of the clergy as well, 
the Bible was a sealed book. The 
greatest stress was laid on doctrines of 
human invention, which were intended 
to enhance the power of the pope and 
of the priesthood. Instead of the two 
sacraments instituted by the Savior, the 
church counted seven sacraments : 
Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, 



— 65 — 

Penance, Order, Matrimony, and Ex- 
treme Unction. In connection with the 
Eucharist, or Sacrament of the Altar, 
the Roman church had introduced the 
idolatrous sacrifice of the mass. It 
taught and teaches that the bread and 
wine are changed into the body and 
blood of Christ, and remain his body 
and blood as long as the form remains 
unchanged; that is, as long as they to 
the touch, taste, etc., seem to be 
bread and wine. From the beginning 
of the thirteenth century it became 
the rule that the lay people did not 
receive the wine at all. The excuse 
offered for this was and is that the body 
of Christ is received entire under the 
form of the bread, and that hence the 
cup of wine is not really necessary. 

Purgatory is another invention of the 
Roman church, which teaches that there 
is a place in which the souls of those 



— 66 — 

who die in the state of grace suffer for 
a time, either on account of venial sin, 
or on account of the temporal punish- 
ment due to mortal sins which have 
been forgiven. The souls detained in 
purgatory may be helped out of this 
place of torment by the prayers of the 
faithful and especially by those of the 
priest. The saying of the mass for the 
souls supposed to be in purgatory has 
been an important part of the business 
of the Roman priests, and furnished 
them with a large part of their income. 
The Roman church gradually left the 
old truth in regard to the relation be- 
tween faith and works, and began to 
teach that man can himself expiate for 
his sins by penances and good deeds, 
especially by fasting, giving alms, and 
making pilgrimages to the Holy Land 
or to Rome. It also became common 
to offer worship and prayer to the saints, 



-67 — 

the chief of whom was and is the Virgin 
Mary. She holds a peculiar position in 
the Roman Catholic church, which has 
invented the fictions that she did not 
have upon her even the stain of original 
sin; and that her body was not allowed 
to decay in the grave, but was taken to 
heaven immediately after her death. 

In connection with the worship of the 
saints the church had a superstitious 
veneration for relics brought back by 
pilgrims from the Holy Land. In the 
dark days of ignorance an enormous 
number and variety of such relics were 
imposed on the people. There were 
splints of the true cross, pieces of cloth- 
ing supposed to have been worn by the 
Virgin Mary, hairs from the beard of 
Saint Peter, and even a bottle of the 
darkness which overspread Egypt at the 
time of Moses. 

Of the many other heresies or abuses 



— 68 — 

of the Roman church only one need be 
mentioned. It is especially important 
for the reason that it is the one against 
which the Reformation directed its first 
attack. This was the sale of indul- 
gences. Strictly speaking the church 
did not claim to be able to sell forgive- 
ness of sins, but only exemption from 
certain penalties. Many priests did, 
however, actually pretend to sell for- 
giveness; and people generally under- 
stood that this was what they were 
buying, and paid great sums into the 
treasury of the church in order to 
secure forgiveness of their sins without 
the trouble of repenting and renouncing 
their wickedness. 

5. THE CRUSADES. 

By the crusades are meant the wars 
carried on by the Christians of the 
Middle Ages for the recovery of 



— 69 — 

Palestine from the Mohammedans. 
These wars have a close connection with 
the superstitions of the Roman church. 
From a very early period pilgrimages 
to the Holy Land had been made. In 
the year 1065 Palestine was conquered 
by the Turks, and these inflicted all 
sorts of indignities on the Christian pil- 
grims. Peter the Hermit, a French 
monk, who visited Palestine and saw 
the cruelties practiced by the Turks, re- 
ported what he had seen to Pope Urban 
II., and was by him encouraged to travel 
through France and Italy and induce 
Christians to begin a crusade. All 
classes were stirred with fanatic enthusi- 
asm. At a council held at Clermont, 
where the pope himself was present, a 
crusade was resolved on. •' This was in 
the year 1095. At this time four armies, 
or rather disorderly mobs, had already 
set out for the Holy Land. The first, 



— 70 — 

consisting of 20,000 men, was almost 
entirely destroyed during the march 
through Bulgaria. The second consisted 
of 40,000 men, women, and children un- 
der Peter the Hermit. They succeeded 
in crossing over into Asia Minor, where 
they were utterly routed by the Turks 
at Nice. The two other bands, one of 
15,000 Germans and one of no less than 
200,000 persons from England, France, 
and other countries, were destroyed by 
the way, in Hungary. Then it was that 
a crusade began which promised success. 
Six armies under the command of trained 
soldiers set out for the Holy Land. At 
Constantinople they united and then 
crossed over into Asia Minor. Here 
they captured Nice and other places, and 
marched into Syria; and after a siege 
lasting seven months they took the city 
of Antioch, and were in their turn be- 
sieged by an army of 200,000 Moham- 



— 71 — 

medans. These were finally defeated, 
and the way opened to Jerusalem. In the 
meantime the army of 600,000 crusaders 
had dwindled to not more than 40,000. 

In the summer of 1099 they laid siege 
to Jerusalem. The city was captured, 
and the leader of the crusaders, Godfrey 
of Bouillon, was elected King of Jeru- 
salem. 

This Christian kingdom maintained 
itself against the attacks of the Moham- 
medans for almost fifty years, when the 
Turks again began to gain the upper 
hand. This brought on the second great 
crusade, which was instigated by Saint 
Bernard of Clairvaux. Two armies, 
numbering more than a million men, 
started for Jerusalem under the com- 
mand of King Louis VII. of France 
and Emperor Conrad III. of Germany. 
Neither of these armies succeeded in 
reaching their destination. 



— 72 — 

The third crusade was begun in 1 187, 
when the Sultan of Egypt had captured 
Jerusalem. This crusade was led by 
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Ger- 
many, King Philippe Auguste of France, 
and King Richard the Lionhearted of 
England. The emperor died on the way, 
and the two kings had a serious quarrel 
among themselves, and finally ended the 
crusade by a treaty with the Sultan, who 
agreed to impose no taxes on Christian 
pilgrims. 

The fourth crusade was ordered by 
Pope Innocence III., in 1203. It set out, 
but never reached Palestine at all. 

In 1228 emperor Frederick II. of Ger- 
many commanded a fifth crusade, and 
was successful in making himself master 
of Palestine and being crowned king of 
Jerusalem. 

Eleven years later the Turks again 
captured Jerusalem, and a sixth crusade 



— 73 — 

was undertaken, under the Count of 
Champagne. This, also, was successful; 
the Mohammedans again surrendered 
the Holy Land. 

In 1244 Jerusalem was pillaged and 
burned by a new band of Turks, and a 
seventh crusade was organized, and set 
out in 1249 under the command of king 
Louis IX. of France. He was defeated 
and taken prisoner by the Sultan of 

Egypt- 
King Louis obtained his freedom by 

the payment of a large ransom; and 
then, in 1270, he undertook the eighth 
and last of the crusades. He himself 
died of the plague before reaching the 
Holy Land, and Prince Edward, after- 
ward King Edward I. of England, took 
command of the army, but accomplished 
nothing of importance. In the summer 
of 1272 he returned to Europe with the 
last of the crusaders, since which time 



— 74 — 

the Mohammedans have remained in un- 
disturbed possession of the Holy Land* 
In connection with these crusades 
should be mentioned what has been 
called the Children^ Crusade, one of 
the most pathetic events in all history. 
In the year 12 12 religious fanaticism 
had reached such a height that three 
armies of young children from France 
and Germany, numbering altogether not 
less than 70,000, were allowed to set out 
for the Holy Land. It was expected 
that the Mediterranean would open a 
path for them, as did the Red Sea for 
the Israelites, and that they would 
capture Jerusalem without striking a 
blow. The expedition was utterly de- 
stroyed; many of the children died on 
the march, others were lost at sea, and 
the rest were captured and sold into 
slavery among the tribes in Northern 
Africa. 



—.75 — 

6. THE MONASTIC ORDERS. 

In the history of the church, as well 
as of the world in general, during the 
Middle Ages the monastic orders play 
an important part. The cloisters, or 
monasteries, had little by little acquired 
large estates and great wealth, and all 
Christian lands fairly swarmed with 
monks, with black friars and gray friars 
and other friars of every description. 
Many of the monasteries,which had been, 
and were supposed to be, schools of piety 
and self-denial, entirely lost this charac- 
ter, and the monks in but too many cases 
were well-fed and lazy persons who led 
a life of ease and pleasure. 

The first monastic order, or congre- 
gation, was that of the Cluniacs, founded 
in Clugny, Burgundy, in 910, by Duke 
William of Aquitaine. This convent at 
Clugny became very rich, but afterward 



— 76 — 

fell into decay. It was finally closed at 
the time of the French Revolution, to- 
ward the close of the eighteenth century. 
Many of its rare and valuable books are 
now in the National Library at Paris, 
and in the British Museum at London. 
The second, and more celebrated, of 
the monastic orders is that of the Cister- 
cians, or Bernardines. Their first mo- 
nastery, or abbey, was at Citeaux in 
France, and was founded in 1098. But 
the order did not flourish ijntil some 
fifteen years later, when it was joined by 
St. Bernard of Clairveaux, a Burgundian 
nobleman, famous for his learning and 
piety. The members of this order were 
long celebrated for religious zeal and 
asceticism. They slept little and worked 
hard, and fasted much of the time. Af- 
ter a hundred years they had nearly two 
thousand monasteries and nunneries. 
There were a hundred of these in Eng- 



— 77 — 

land when they were closed by King 
Henry VIII. at the time of the Refor- 
mation. 

The number of monastic orders be- 
came so great, and the troubles and 
rivalries between them so notorious and 
scandalous, that Pope Innocence III., in 
12 1 5, forbade the establishment of any 
new orders. However, there were at 
about this time founded two new orders 
which shortly became more powerful 
than all the others together. These two 
were the congregations of the so-called 
Mendicant Friars, the Dominicans 
and the Franciscans. The first of 
these orders is named after Dominicus, 
a Spaniard, whose idea it was that the 
members were to travel about and hold 
religious revivals and stamp out all 
manner of " heresies." These monks 
were usually known as the black friars. 
The order of Franciscans was founded 



— 78 — 

by an Italian named Franciscus. It laid 
special stress on the poverty of its 
members, who dressed in cloaks of 
coarse gray cloth, and traveled bare- 
foot from place to place, begging their 
way, and preaching repentance. They 
were called gray friars. 

In the course of time the Dominicans 
and Franciscans became "the wheels 
under the chariot in which the church 
rode on to victory." They were the 
teachers of the people and of the priest- 
hood, the confessors of the princes and 
nobles, and the principal props of popery 
with all its heresies and abuses. 

7. THE GENERAL CHURCH COUNCILS. 

In the fifteenth century there were 
held three great general church councils 
which may be said to have prepared the 
way for the downfall of popery. The 
popes of Rome had assumed absolute 



— 79 — 

control of the church, and claimed to 
stand above all authority. Now the 
old idea again began to prevail that the 
pope, while being the chief bishop of 
the whole church, still owed obedience 
and was responsible to the general 
councils, or meetings of the church by 
its bishops and other representatives. 
The man who first made himself espe- 
cially famous by advocating this view 
was John Gerson, the chancellor of the 
University of Paris. As a result of his 
work a general church council was 
called to meet at Pisa, in the year 
1409, to reform the church " in its 
head and its members." There were at 
that time two men, each of whom 
claimed to be the duly elected pope, 
and the first business of the council was 
to settle this troublesome affair. In 
order to do this the council deposed the 
two popes and elected a new one, 



— 80 — 

Alexander V. The others, however, 
refused to yield, and so the only result 
was that the church had three popes 
instead of two. 

Alexander soon died, and was re- 
placed by Pope John XXIII., a man most 
infamous by reason of his many vices 
and crimes. Through the efforts of 
Gerson this pope was compelled to call 
a new general council, which met in the 
city of Constance and lasted four 
years. After much trouble the breach 
was healed; Pope John and one of the 
other two were deposed; and the third 
resigned in order to avoid sharing their 
fate. Then some members of the 
council urged the importance of reform- 
ing certain notorious abuses in the 
church, while other members insisted 
that a new pope must first be elected. 
These latter carried their point. 
Martin V. was elected, and then he 



— 81 — 

made haste to dissolve the council before 
any of the proposed reforms could be 
discussed. 

In 1 43 1 a general council was con- 
vened at Basel, and met from time to 
time, and was not finally dissolved until 
1443. This council began well, trying 
to reform the pope by limiting his 
power. Naturally, the pope did not like 
this, and so he ordered the removal of 
the council to Florence, where he would 
be the better able to control it. Some 
members refused to obey this order, and 
continued their meetings in Basel. The 
pope then excommunicated them ; and 
they deposed him, and elected a new 
pope. But the church did not again 
want two popes; and so the one chosen 
at Basel never gained any foothold. The 
council at last adjourned without having 
accomplished anything. 

All these councils were marked 



— 82 — 

failures. The popes in the latter half of 
the fifteenth century were more notorious 
than any of their predecessors for their 
wickedness; and the abuses in the 
church became worse than ever before. 
The trouble was that the councils 
wished only to correct some of the 
abuses in the government of the church, 
and made no attempt to reach the root 
of the evil — the many false doctrines 
which were taught in defiance of the 
Word of God. 

8. THE REFORMERS BEFORE THE 
REFORMATION. 

From time to time there appeared 
men who tried to lead the church back 
to the truths of the gospel. In the 
twelfth century Peter Waldes of Lyons, 
in France, had the four Gospels and 
other books of the Bible translated into 
French, and then formed a society for 



— 83 — 

the spread of the biblical truths. The 
pope refused him and his friends permis- 
sion to preach; but they declared that 
they "ought to obey God rather than 
men;" for which reason they were 
excommunicated and persecuted. They 
gained many adherents; and the Wal- 
denses exist to this day as a protestant 
sect in the southern districts of France. 

To deal with these persons and others 
who defied his authority, the pope in 
1232 established the infamous Inquisi- 
tion; that is, church courts for the trial 
of persons accused or suspected of 
"heresy." Thousands upon thousands 
of the Waldenses, and later on of other 
"heretics," were murdered. The Inqui- 
sition, which was under the control of 
the Dominican monks, became the 
bloodiest chapter in the history of the 
world. 

Another who, in a sense, may be 



— 84 — 

called one of the forerunners of the 
Reformation is Thomas A. Ke?n-pis, 
who was born in 1380 near Cologne. 
His book on "The Imitation of Christ" 
has been translated into all languages in 
which books are printed, and is said to 
have been more widely circulated than 
any other book, excepting only the 
Bible. 

yohn Wyclif, born in Yorkshire, 
England, about the year 1320, has 
been called "the morning-star of the 
Reformation." He was for some years 
a professor in Oxford University, and 
was afterward appointed chaplain to 
King Edward III. He wrote many 
books and tracts attacking the heresies 
of the Roman church, and declared that 
the pope was the antichrist. Wyclif 
had many supporters, who were called 
the Lollards. He was excommunicated 
as a dangerous heretic by Pope 



— 85 — 

Gregory XL, but owing to the number 
and strength of his friends he escaped 
death at the stake. He died in 1384. 
Thirty years later the Council at Con- 
stance ordered his bones removed from 
consecrated ground; but the order was 
not obeyed until in 1428, when at the 
command of Pope Clement VIII. they 
were exhumed and burned, and the 
ashes thrown into a river near Oxford. 
The most important work of Wyclif 
was that of translating the Bible into 
English. 

yohn Huss, who was born in or about 
the year 1369, and became a preacher 
and a professor in the University of 
Prague, is even still more important than 
is Wyclif as one of the Reformers before 
the Reformation. He had read the 
writings of the English reformer, and 
preached the gospel to large audiences 
at Prague in the Bohemian language. 



— 86 — 

He denounced the abuses and false 
doctrines in the Roman church, and es- 
pecially attacked the sale of indulgences. 
For this he was condemned and excom- 
municated by the pope, and a ban placed 
on the city which received him within 
its walls. He himself appealed to the 
council at Constance. Provided with 
a safeguard from Emperor Sigismund 
he went to this city and was present 
when the council opened. But shortly 
afterward he was thrown into prison 
and put in chains. On June 5, 141 5, he 
was brought before the council and urged 
to deny the truths which he had preached. 
This he refused to do. On July 6 he 
was sentenced, and on the same day 
burned at the stake, and his ashes thrown 
into the Rhine. The following year his 
friend and disciple, Jerome of Prague, 
who had been a student at Oxford, and 
had brought the writings of Wyclif over 



— 87 — 

to Bohemia, was also sentenced and 
burned at the stake on the spot where 
Huss had suffered death. The Hussites, 
as they were called, became numerous 
in Bohemia, and the attempts to destroy 
them brought on a bloody war, 14 19- 
1436, Later they formed a church 
society, which now has its headquarters 
in Hernhut, Saxony, and is known as the 
society of United Brethren. 

Girolamo Savonarola is another, and 
the last of the Reformers before the 
Reformation. He was a Dominican 
monk and became, about the year 1490, 
a popular preacher in Florence, Italy. 
He attacked tyranny and vice in the 
church and in the state, and especially 
denounced the shameful wickedness of 
Pope Alexander VI. He wrote letters 
to foreign kings urging them to dethrone 
this monster and elect a new pope. In 
1498 he was arrested, with two of his 



— 88 — 

brethren, and tortured until almost dead ; 
but he could not be induced to make 
any confession of guilt. The pope or- 
dered his execution, and on May 23, 
1498, Savonarola and the other two 
monks were hanged and then burned, 
and their ashes thrown into the Arno. 

The invention of the art of printing 
with movable type, and the new birth of 
learning, following upon the dark night 
of the Middle Ages, should also be re- 
membered as circumstances which, in 
the providence of God, paved the way 
for the Lutheran Reformation, with 
which Modern History begins. 



III. THE CHURCH IN MODERN 
TIMES. 

i. THE CHURCH REFORMATION BY 
MARTIN LUTHER. 

TN this compend of church history the 
life of MartinLuther can be given only 
in briefest outline. But every student 
of history, and especially every Lutheran, 
should read at least one of the many 
biographies which have been written of 
this man of God, who was chosen as the 
instrument for the reformation of the 
church, and who turned the current of 
the world's history into a new channel. 
Martin Luther was born November 
10, 1483, at Eisleben, Saxony. His 
parents were Hans and Margaret Luther, 
who had their home in the town of 



— 90 — 

Mansfeld. At the time when Martin 
Luther was born, and during the years 
of his childhood, his parents were poor; 
but later on their circumstances were 
bettered, and his father was a member 
of the town council. They were severe 
in their discipline, and their son was at 
an early age taught to read and to work. 
When fourteen years old, he was sent to 
a high school in Magdeburg, and the 
following year to Eisenach. After the 
custom of other poor students he here 
in part supported himself by singing at 
the doors of citizens. He had much 
musical talent and a pleasing voice, and 
the pious wife of Conrad Cotta became 
interested in the boy and gave him a 
home in her house. In 1591 Luther 
became a student in the University of 
Erfurt. His father wanted him to be- 
come a lawyer; but this was not to be. 
He had begun to be a diligent reader of 



— 91 — 

the Bible, which he had found in the 
university library, and this gave his 
mind a strong bent toward the study of 
theology. A deep conviction of sin was 
forced upon him, and in hopes of finding 
peace he, in 1505, entered the August- 
inian monastery. Here he spent two 
years, rigidly observing all the severe 
rules. His spare time he devoted to the 
study of the Bible and the Church 
Fathers; but he was not able to find rest 
for his soul. He was afraid of God, un- 
til a pious old monk gave him courage 
and comfort by calling his attention to 
the Bible passage which declares that 
"the just by faith shall live." 

In 1507 Luther was ordained a priest 
and began to preach in Wittenberg, and 
in the following year he was called to a 
professorship in philosophy at the Wit- 
tenberg University. After a year in 
this work he was called to the Uni- 



— 92 — 

versity of Erfurt, but soon returned to 
Wittenberg and became Professor of 
Theology. His study of the Bible and 
of the writings of St. Augustine showed 
its influence in his lectures and sermons. 
He laid great stress on the central truth, 
that a sinner is justified before God for 
Christ's sake by faith alone. 

In 151 1 he made a journey to Rome 
on business connected with the August- 
inian order, and his eyes were opened to 
some of the wickedness of "the holy 
city." On his way home he was taken 
ill; then it was that he, according to his 
own statement, at last found peace in the 
truth that the righteous by faith shall 
live. Shortly after his return to Witten- 
berg he became Doctor of Theology, 
after which he also was made one of the 
vicars of the Augustinian order, and as 
such visited and supervised the eleven 
convents under his charge. 



— 93 — 

The Reformation by Luther began 
October 31, 1517. Pope Leo X. needed 
money for the completion of the great 
church of St. Peter in Rome. For this 
purpose he arranged the sale of in- 
dulgences on a large scale. His agent 
for Germany was Archbishop Albert of 
Mayence, who was himself in need of 
money and was to have a share of the 
proceeds. Among the district agents 
appointed by the archbishop was John 
Tetzel, a Dominican monk. This man 
had a more than shady reputation, but 
was a master of his business. He es- 
tablished a booth for the sale of in- 
dulgences near the border of Saxony, 
the Elector having issued an order for- 
bidding him to enter his territory. 
Tetzel made much money; and when 
the great chests of coin were brought to 
Rome, the Romans laughed and said: 
"Here come the sins of the Germans." 



— 94 — 

Among the persons who confessed to 
Luther as their priest were many who 
had visited Tetzel and bought forgive- 
ness, and who therefore thought that 
they had no need of repentance. Luther 
preached against this wickedness and 
protested to the bishops, but in vain. 
For the purpose of having a public dis- 
cussion of the matter he then, October 
31, 15 1 7, nailed to the door of the castle 
church in Wittenberg his ninety-five 
theses against the sale of indulgences, 
and offered to defend his position public- 
ly against any person or persons whom- 
soever. The theses were moderate in 
tone, and Luther had no thought of at- 
tacking the pope and church. But in 
less than two weeks his theses were 
known throughout all Germany. Every- 
where they found advocates of the 
doctrine which they contained, that for- 
giveness and salvation are not to be had 



— 95 — 

without repentance and faith. Tetzel 
and his friends complained to the pope, 
and Luther was ordered to appear in 
Rome within sixty days. But his 
staunch friend and supporter, the Elector 
Frederick the Wise of Saxony, demanded 
that he be tried in Germany; and so 
Luther, in October, 15 18, appeared be- 
fore the papal legate Cajetan at Augs- 
burg. No agreement was reached. 
Luther refused to deny the truth; but 
later on he was persuaded to promise 
that he would hold his peace, if his op- 
ponents would do likewise. 

The breach widened, however, in 
1 5 19, when Luther held a public dispu- 
tation at Leipzic against Dr. Eck and 
attacked many of the abuses of the 
Roman church. The following year he 
was excommunicated by the pope and 
his writings ordered to be burned. 
Luther replied to this by burning the 



— 96 — 

papal letter in the presence of his stu- 
dents near one of the gates of Witten- 
berg. 

Emperor Charles V. of Germany was 
a bitter enemy of the Reformation. He 
cited Luther to appear before him at 
the Diet of Worms, in 1521. Many of 
Luther's friends tried to dissuade him 
from going, and reminded him of the 
fate of John Huss at Constance; but he 
declared that nothing should keep him 
from going to Worms and giving an 
account of his faith. His journey created 
intense excitement. In the villages 
through which he passed people gathered 
from far and near to see the brave monk 
who had defied the pope and all the 
world. He was accompanied by his 
friends Justus Jonas, Nickolas Amsdorf, 
and Jerome Schurf. On April 17 and 
18 he appeared before the Diet of 
Worms, in which sat the emperor, the 



— 97 — 

papal legates, a large number of dukes 
and other nobles, archbishops, and dele- 
gates from nearly all countries of Europe. 
He was urged to recant (that is, take 
back) that which he had written against 
the church, and he asked and received 
permission to give his final answer on 
the following day. When he again ap- 
peared before the Diet he admitted that 
he had in his books made use of some 
rather strong expressions, but in all 
things essential he had spoken and 
written nothing but the truth. The em- 
peror demanded of Luther a direct 
answer to the question whether or not 
he would recant. Luther then said: 
"Since you want a plain answer I will 
give one which has neither horns nor 
teeth. Except I be convinced by the 
holy scripture or by clear arguments, I 
neither can nor will recant; for it is not 
wise to do anything contrary to one's 



— 98 — 

conscience. Here I stand. I can not do 
otherwise. God help me. Amen." 

Luther was outlawed, but was per- 
mitted to leave Worms. On his way 
home, however, he was seized by friends 
in disguise and carried to the Wartburg 
Castle at Eisenach for security. Here 
he spent nearly a year, employing him- 
self in preparing various works for publi- 
cation and beginning his translation of 
the Bible into German. In the meantime 
there occurred a fanatical outbreak at 
Wittenberg. Professor Carlstadt and 
certain other revolutionary zealots known 
as the Prophets from Zwickau had 
gone beyond all bounds in their attacks 
on the established order of things in the 
. church, and Luther felt that his presence 
was necessary. He reached Wittenberg 
March 5, 1522, and preached every day 
against these fanatics and succeeded in 
quelling the disorder in that city. But 



— 99 — 

in other places it became worse than 
ever. Thomas Muenzer, who was the 
head and front of the Zwickau Prophets, 
traveled from place to place and urged 
the peasants to rise in rebellion and rid 
themselves of their oppressors in the 
church and the state. The result was 
the Peasants'* War ) which began in 
Swabia and spread to many parts of the 
German empire. For a year the peasants 
pillaged and burned castles and churches, 
while Luther denounced them as persons 
who "under pretense of zeal for the 
gospel were serving the devil." In 1525 
they were defeated in a bloody battle at 
Frankenhausen, and peace was restored. 
Luther had resumed his duties in the 
university, besides which he wrote and 
published treatises and sermons and 
hymns, and completed his translation of 
the Bible. In 1523 he began his work 
for the reformation of the public church 

LofC. 



— 100 — 

services and for the better education of 
the people. During the plague at 
Wittenberg, in 1527, when the uni- 
versity was removed for a time to Jena, 
he published new volumes of sermons 
and began work on his two Catechisms, 
both of which were published in 1529. 
The "large" catechism was written 
first, and then the short catechism for 
children. The amount of work which 
Luther accomplished between the years 
1520 and 1530 is astounding. He 
labored all the time with tireless energy. 
Among his able and faithful assistants 
Philip Melanchton occupies first place. 
Melanchton was fourteen years younger 
than Luther, and was, like him, a pro- 
fessor in Wittenberg. Melanchton was 
famed for his piety and great learning, 
and has been called "the Teacher of 
Germany." He assisted Luther in trans- 
lating the Bible and was his dear and 



— 101 — 

faithful friend. In natural temperament 
the two men were very unlike. Luther 
was a perfectly fearless and energetic 
man of action, while Melanchton was 
a mild-mannered and rather timid man 
with a retiring disposition. 

In 1529 was held at Spires, in Bavaria, 
the famous diet, in which the friends of 
the Reformation for the first time were 
called Protestants. 

The Augsburg Confession, which is 
the principal confession of the Lutheran 
church, was written by Melanchton. It 
was signed by the Lutheran princes of 
Germany and by others, and delivered 
to the emperor at the Diet of Augsburg, 
in 1530. During the diet Luther re- 
mained at Coburg, following with close 
attention the proceedings in Augsburg, 
giving Melanchton advice from day to 
day, and reading the Confession, with 
which he declared himself fully satisfied, 



— 102 — 

adding that he could not have written it 
as well as his friend had done it. 

The Confession had been written in 
both German and Latin; and the Ger- 
man copy was, by Dr. Bayer, one of the 
chancellors of Saxony, read out to the 
emperor, the members of the diet, and 
a great throng of other people. It made 
a profound impression. But the emperor 
was determined not to yield. He ordered 
Dr. Eck to write a "confutation" of the 
protestant Confession; and this was 
done. The document was read, and 
was generally admitted to be weak and 
to "confute" nothing of that which 
Melanchton had written. The emperor, 
however, would listen to no further 
argument. He declared that the " con- 
futation" expressed the opinion by which 
he would abide, and demanded that the 
other princes endorse this opinion. 
During the progress of the diet 



— 103 — 

Melanchton wrote his "Apology" in 
defense of the Confession ; but the 
emperor refused to receive it. The 
friends of Luther were threatened with 
the sword; and in self-defense the Protes- 
tant princes of Germany formed the so- 
called Smalcald League. 

There had long been some talk of a 
new general church council; and in 
preparation for it the Protestants held a 
consultation in Smalcald in 1536. For 
this occasion Luther set down in writing 
those points to which the Protestants 
must adhere under all circumstances. 
This is the document known as the 
Smalcald Articles. 

In the year 1525, when he was forty- 
two years old, Luther married Catharine 
von Bora, who had been a nun. Himself 
says of her that she was a a pious and 
faithful wife, in whom the heart of her 
husband could trust." By her he had 



— 104 — 

three sons and three daughters. His 
family life was a very happy one. He 
was fond of seeing his friends about 
him at his fireside, and of singing and 
playing innocent games with his 
children. 

In the latter years of his life Luther 
took part in several discussions with 
members of different Protestant parties, 
and was inciessantly active in adjusting 
difficulties and disputes, writing treatises, 
and revising his translation of the Bible. 
For some years he was in poor health 
and suffered much. He prayed that he 
might not live to see the religious war 
which was threatening Germany; and 
his prayer was heard. In January, 1546, 
he went to his birthplace, Eisleben, to 
act as arbitrator between the Counts of 
Mansfeld. On the way he caught a 
severe cold. Still he continued for some 
weeks to work and preach. On 



— 105 — 

February 17 his illness took a bad turn; 
and he realized that death was near. To 
one of his sons and to his dear friend 
Justus Jonas, who had accompanied him 
from Wittenberg, he announced that he 
hoped and expected to die in Eisleben, 
where he had been born. Shortly after 
midnight he had a sinking spell; and his 
friends heard him say in the Latin 
tongue: "Into thy hands I commend my 
spirit; thou hast redeemed me, thou God 
of truth." Justus Jonas bent over the 
dying man and asked him, if he in death 
still held fast the faith and doctrine 
which he had preached. Luther answered 
" Yes." This was his last word. He 
clasped his hands in prayer, drew his 
last breath, and fell asleep shortly before 
three o'clock in the morning of 
February 18, 1546. His remains are 
buried in front of the pulpit in the castle 
church at Wittenberg. 



— 106 — 

The published works of Luther em- 
brace, in Walch's Edition, 24 large 
volumes; and in the Erlangen Edition, 
100 volumes, 67 in German and 33 in 
Latin. Of his hymns, which are 36 in 
number, the best known is his "Battle 
Hymn of the Reformation," "A Mighty 
Fortress is our God." 

The best biography of Luther is that 
by Julius Kostlin; of which there are 
two English translations. 

Luther did not establish a new church; 
he was the instrument by which the 
church was led back to the old paths 
marked out by Holy Writ. The lead- 
ing and distinctive principles of Luther- 
anism are these: 

1. Human nature is entirely cor- 
rupted by sin; and man has thus brought 
upon himself divine wrath and condem- 
nation, and has neither the will nor the 
strength to save himself. 



— 107 — 

2. God's grace and mercy proceed 
entirely from his own free will, and not 
from any merit whatever in sinful man. 

3. The sufferings and death of 
Christ were the price of man's redemp- 
tion, and had infinite efficacy by reason 
of the fact that Christ was not only true 
man but true God. 

4. Justification is not a change in 
man, but an act of God alone, whereby, 
for the sake of Christ's merit received 
by faith, he forgives sin and pronounces 
sinful man righteous. 

5. Faith is a gift of God and a work 
of the Holy Ghost wrought in man 
through the means of grace, and is 
neither in whole nor in part a result of 
man's own endeavors. 

6. The means of grace are the word 
and sacraments, through which the Holy 
Ghost is always active; so that they are 
never without efficacy, although they do 



— 108 — 

not by force save those who persistently 
repel the Spirit. 

7. Baptism is a means of regenera- 
tion; and they who, after baptism, fall 
from grace return by faith to the 
covenant first made in baptism. 

8. The body and blood of Christ are 
truly present with and in the bread and 
wine in the Lord's Supper, and are 
given to all who partake of this sacra- 
ment; but benefit and bless those only 
who receive it worthily in faith. 

9. The Holy Scriptures of the Old 
and New Testament are the infallible 
word of God, and are the sole sure rule 
of faith, doctrine, and life; and in all 
controversies they are the final judge, 
from whose decision no appeal can be 
taken. 

10. In the New Testament, besides 
the priesthood of our High Priest, Jesus 
Christ, there exists only the spiritual 



— 109 — 

priesthood of all believers; and these 
have access to Christ directly and with- 
out the mediation of saints, angels, or 
any priestly order. 

ii. The office * of the ministry 
belongs to the whole church; but its 
duties are ordinarily to be exercised 
only by those who have been duly called 
and set apart for this office. 

2. ULRICH ZWINGLI AND JOHN CALVIN. 

The reformed churches, so-called, 
have their roots in Switzerland, in the 
reformation there begun by Ulrich 
Z-wingli. He was seven weeks younger 
than Luther, having been born January 
i, 1484, in a lowly shepherd's cot at 
Wildhaus, in the canton of St. Gall, 
Switzerland. He studied at Vienna and 
Basel, and distinguished himself by his 
learning and eloquence. In 1506 he 
entered the priesthood and became very 



— 110 — 

popular as a preacher, and also as a po- 
litical agitator. In 1516 he was called 
as pastor to Einsiedeln, and then he 
began boldly to attack the superstitions 
of the Roman church. Two years later 
he was called to the cathedral at Zurich, 
where he labored until his death. Gradu- 
ally he broke loose from Romanism, de- 
nouncing especially the worship of the 
saints and the sale of indulgences. He 
went beyond bounds and wanted to 
abolish from the public church services 
everything which was not expressly com- 
manded in the Bible. There were to be 
in the churches neither pictures, altars, 
organs, nor bells; everything was to be 
as in the days of "apostolic simplicity." 
In September, 1529, Zwingli had a 
personal conference with Luther and 
Melanchton in Marburg. The principal 
question discussed was that of the real 
presence of the body and blood of Christ 



— Ill — 

in the Lord's Supper. Luther insisted 
on the plain and literal meaning of the 
words of Christ: "This is my body. ^ 
Zwingli, on the other hand, argued that 
these words could not in reason be true 
in their literal sense. He and his follow- 
ers also denied that baptism is in truth 
a means of regeneration. To them it 
was only a ceremony by which one be- 
comes a member of a church society. 
Luther therefore felt it his duty to refuse 
the hand of fellowship which Zwingli 
held out to him at Marburg. 

The ideas of Zwingli quickly spread 
through the German cantons of Switzer- 
land, while the other cantons remained 
true to the Roman Catholic faith. With 
the assistance of Austria the Catholics 
began a persecution of the friends of 
Zwingli, many of whom suffered death 
at the stake. Zwingli urged the Prot- 
estants to defend themselves, and war was 



— 112 — 

declared. He himself acted as chaplain 
of the regiment from Zurich, and lost 
his life in the disastrous battle of Kappel, 
October n, 1531. He was pierced by 
a lance while bending down to comfort 
a dying soldier. His last words were: 
"What of it? They can indeed kill the 
body, but they can not kill the soul." 
His body was burned, and the ashes 
scattered to the winds. A granite monu- 
ment erected four hundred years later 
marks the spot where he fell. 

The work begun by Zwingli was con- 
tinued by John Calvin, born at Noyen, 
France, in 1509. As a young man he 
was compelled to flee from Paris on 
account of a speech, which he had pre- 
pared and delivered, on the necessity of 
reforming the church. In 1536 he settled 
in Geneva, Switzerland, where he not 
only became pastor of the largest church, 
but made himself the head of the city 



— 113 — 

government as well. After two years 
he was banished, after which he spent 
some time in Bern, Strassburg, and other 
places, until 1541, when he returned in 
triumph to Geneva, in answer to a 
general demand on the part of the citi- 
zens. For twenty-three years he now 
ruled this city with an iron hand, keep- 
ing up an incessant fight against the 
abuses in the church and the vices of the 
people. He was a harsh and stern man, 
and there is one serious blot upon his 
memory: Servetus, a Spanish physician, 
had denied the doctrine of the Trinity, 
and had been sentenced to death. He 
made his escape from Spain and came 
to Geneva. Calvin had him put on trial 
for blasphemy, and Servetus was con- 
demned and burned at the stake. 

The influence of Calvin reached far 
beyond the borders of Switzerland. 
Fro.m the academy at Geneva teachers 



— 114 — 

were sent to nearly all countries, and 
Calvinism became the ruling system of 
religion in many lands. The Synod of 
Dort, Holland, in 1618, defined the 
distinctive doctrines of Calvin in five 
theses, which have therefore been called 
"the five -points of Calvinism?' 1 These 
five points affirm absolute predesti- 
nation, particular redemption, total de- 
pravity, irresistable grace, and the per- 
severance of the saints. 

3. THE EARLY STRUGGLES AND 
TRIUMPHS OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. 

The efforts of the German emperor, 
Charles V., to destroy the church of 
the Reformation at last resulted in the 
Smalcald War, which began shortly 
after the time of Luther's death. The 
most important German ally of the 
emperor was Duke Maurice of Saxony. 
This man was himself a Protestant, but 



— 115 — 

now ranged himself with the enemies of 
his religion and made war on his father- 
in-law, Landgrave Philip of Hesse, who 
with the Elector John Frederick of 
Saxony was at the head of the Protes- 
tant Smalcald League. With the as- 
sistance of Duke Maurice the emperor 
defeated the Protestants in the battle of 
Muhlberg, 1546. John Frederick was 
taken prisoner, and Philip of Hesse 
surrendered himself to the emperor. 
Duke Maurice was sent against the city 
of Magdeburg, which was still under 
arms; and now he saw his chance of 
setting himself right with his former 
Protestant friends. Instead of- attacking 
Magdeburg he made a secret alliance 
with King Henry II. of France, and 
then marched against Innsbruck, where 
the emperor lay ill. By a hasty flight 
the emperor saved himself from being 
made a prisoner, but by the Peace of 



— 116 — 

Passau, 1552, he was compelled to 
grant religious liberty to the Protestants. 
This agreement was repeated by the 
treaty of -peace adopted at Augsburg 
in 1555. However, this religious liberty 
applied only to the princes and nobles; 
the common people were to obey their 
masters in matters of faith. In the 
course of time this arrangement led to 
new trouble, which finally culminated in 
the Thirty Years' War. 

From Germany the Lutheran Refor- 
mation first found its way to the Scan- 
dinavian countries, and in a short time 
the Evangelical faith became the domi- 
nant religion in Denmark, Norway, 
Sweden, their dependencies, Iceland and 
Finland, and the Baltic provinces of 
Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia. 

In Denmark the Reformation gained 
a foothold almost as quickly as in Ger- 
many. King Christian II. was for 



— 117 — 

political reasons extremely desirous of 
destroying the power of the priesthood; 
and it was this circumstance, rather than 
any vital interest in the true faith, which 
caused him to ask his uncle, Elector 
Frederick the Wise of Saxony, to send 
a Lutheran teacher to Denmark. In 
answer to this request one Martin 
Reinhard came to Copenhagen; but he 
did not understand the Danish language, 
and could do nothing. He was soon 
replaced by Carlstadt, the man who 
afterward made so much trouble in 
Wittenberg by his revolutionary 
methods. He, also, remained in Den- 
mark but a short time; and in 1523 
King Christian himself was driven out 
of his kingdom. His successor, Fred- 
erick I., was compelled to promise 
that he would permit no disciple of 
Luther or any other "heretic" to preach 
against the Roman church. In spite of 



— 118 — 

this promise, however, he encouraged 
the Evangelical doctrine to the extent 
of his power. Hans Tausen had been 
a student in Wittenberg, and now re- 
turned to his home in Denmark a zealous 
Lutheran. He began to preach the 
gospel in Viborg, and was thrown into 
prison. But he was soon released, and 
King Frederick gave him permission to 
continue his preaching, which he did 
until his death, in 1 561, as bishop of 
Ribe. A meeting of the nobles in 
Odense, 1527, declared for full religious 
liberty, and abolished the rule which 
prohibited the marriage of the clergy. 
There were also at this time published 
two Danish translations of the New 
Testament, one by Hans Mikkelson and 
one by Christiern Pederson. At a diet 
in Copenhagen, in 1530, the Lutherans 
presented to the king a confession of 
their faith in 43 articles, while the 



— 119 — 

Roman Catholics laid before him a 
formal complaint and a demand that the 
new "heresy" be suppressed. 

After some discussion the king de- 
clared that he would protect both 
parties in their equal rights. King 
Frederick died in 1533; and his suc- 
cessor, Christian III., called a diet in 
Copenhagen, 1536, which formally 
adopted the Evangelical Lutheran faith 
as the official religion of the country. 
Luther's friend, Dr. Bugenhagen, was 
called and came from Wittenberg to 
superintend the new arrangements; 
Lutheran pastors were appointed, and 
Roman Catholicism was thoroughly 
weeded out. In 1550 was published the 
first complete translation of the Bible in 
the Danish tongue. 

In Norway, which at this time was 
united with Denmark, Lutheranism was 
formally introduced as the established 



— 120 — 

religion, in 1537. Some of the people, 
however, clung tenaciously to their old 
faith, and in several parishes the Evan- 
gelical preachers received rough treat- 
ment. But the Reformation made rapid 
headway, especially through the efforts 
of Bishop Jorgen Erikson of Stavanger, 
who has been called the Luther of Nor- 
way. Still, it was not until in the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth century, 
under King Christian IV., that the 
Lutheran church had taken root in all 
parts of the country. 

From Norway the Evangelical doc- 
trine was carried to Iceland, where it at 
first met with bitter resistance. The 
Catholic bishop, Jon Areson, sought 
by force and violence to destroy the 
friends of the Reformation, for which 
reason he was arrested and executed, 
in 1550. Iceland is said now to be more 
thoroughly and entirely Lutheran than 



— 121 — 

any other district or country in the world. 
In Sweden the Evangelical doctrine 
encountered some resistance, but there 
was no serious trouble in connection with 
its introduction. Two brothers, Olaf 
and Lars Pederson, had been students 
in Wittenberg and had become warmly 
attached to the Lutheran faith. On 
their return to Sweden they began to 
preach the gospel, and found a staunch 
supporter in King Gustavus Vasa. One 
of their first converts was Bishop Lars 
Anderson, who afterward became the 
chancellor of the kingdom. King 
Gustavus had himself been in Germany, 
where he had learned to know and to 
love the Lutheran doctrine. He called 
Olaf Pederson to Stockholm and made 
Lars Pederson archbishop of Upsala; 
and a diet in Westeraas, 1544, passed 
resolutions renouncing all Roman here- 
sies and superstitions, and pledging the 



— 122 — 

king and people of Sweden never to de- 
part from the Lutheran faith. After the 
death of Gustavus Vasa some Roman 
emissaries made strenuous attempts to 
bring Sweden back into the fold, but 
they had no success. A general council 
of the Swedish church at Upsala, in 1593, 
declared its unshaken devotion to the 
teachings of the Augsburg Confession. 
Through their close relations with 
Sweden the Baltic Provinces, as well as 
Finland, were won for Lutheranism. In 
France, the Netherlands, Poland, Bohe- 
mia, and Hungary the Lutheran Refor- 
mation gained foothold for a time, but 
was, in greater or less measure, 
gradually supplanted by the Catholic, 
or by the Reformed church. 

4. THE GROWTH OF THE REFORMED 
CHURCH. 

By "the Church of the Reformation" 
is meant the Lutheran church, while 



— 123 — 

u the Reformed church" is to be under- 
stood as embracing all those many 
protestant sects and denominations which 
have sprung up out of the movement 
begun in Switzerland by Zwingli and 
Calvin, and which, in a general way, 
may be said to differ from the Lutheran 
church in having, more or less, disre- 
garded or perverted the sacraments. 

The early victories of the Reformed 
church were won at the cost of much 
blood, and changed not only the re- 
ligious, but also the political complexion 
of England, France, the Netherlands, 
and other countries. 

England had in a way been prepared 
for the Reformation, especially through 
the work of John Wyclif and his follow- 
ers. Many were disposed to lend ear 
to the Evangelical doctrine which came 
to them from Germany. But the Eng- 
lish king, Henry VIII. , of unsavory 



— 124 — 

memory, forbade the introduction of 
Luther's writings into the country, and 
began to persecute the friends of the 
Reformation. He even had the boldness 
to write a book against Luther "on the 
Seven Sacraments," and was rewarded 
by the Roman pope with the title, 
"Defender of the Faith." In his reply 
Luther handled the king pretty roughly, 
and this incensed Henry all the more 
against the Evangelical doctrine. In 
1534, however, he had a falling out with 
the pope. The king had grown tired of 
his old queen, Catharine of Arragon, and 
had divorced her, in order to marry 
Anne Boleyn. But Catharine was the 
aunt of Emperor Charles V. of Germany, 
and the pope could not afford to sanction 
the doings of the king, and thus give 
offense to the more powerful emperor. 
King Henry then declared himself inde- 
pendent of Rome, and proclaimed him- 



— 125 — 

self head of the English church. He 
cared nothing about the matter of doc- 
trine, but persecuted all alike who would 
not recognize his supremacy. Still, the 
situation was such that it gave pious 
men, notably Archbishop Cranmer of 
Canterbury, an opportunity to advance 
the cause of the gospel. King Henry 
died in 1547, and his son and successor, 
Edward VI., was but a child. His chief 
advisors were friendly to the Reforma- 
tion and allowed Cranmer to continue 
his work. This was largely carried on 
by teachers who were under the influ- 
ence of John Calvin, and thus it came 
about that the Reformed church gained 
the upper hand. Queen Mary, 1553- 
1558, who came to the throne at the 
death of Edward, was the daughter of 
King Henry by Catharine, and was by 
birth and training a zealous Catholic. 
She caused Archbishop Cranmer and 



— 126 — 

many others to be burned at the stake, 
and earned her name of "Bloody Mary." 
Her sister and successor, Queen Eliza- 
beth, was a Protestant, and during her 
long reign the reformation of the church 
was completed. The parliament by 
formal resolution established the English 
Episcopal church, and the Thirty-nine 
Articles were adopted and made binding 
on all ministers and teachers of religion. 
These Articles were originally forty-two, 
and had, together with the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer, been prepared by Cranmer 
and others during the reign of King 
Edward VI. Their doctrine in regard 
to the sacraments is in the main that of 
Calvin. The two sacraments are de- 
clared to be "effectual signs of grace, 
and of God's good will toward us." 
Apart from this the Articles are to a 
great extent taken from the Augsburg 
Confession. 



— 127 — 

The reformer of the church in Scot- 
land was John Knox, a friend of Calvin. 
He led a stormy life and was in many 
dangers, but he had an iron will and tire- 
less energy, and succeeded in establish- 
ing the Presbyterian church, which was 
the embodiment of pure Calvinism. 

In Ireland, also, the Protestant church 
was established, but about three-fourths 
of the people remained Roman Catho- 
lics. On several occasions they have 
risen in revolt against the religion which 
had thus been forced upon them; and, 
in the middle of the nineteenth century, 
the Prostestant Episcopal church was at 
last disestablished. 

In the Netherlands, which at that 
time included both Holland and Belgium, 
the efforts to reform the church were 
accompanied by much bloodshed. The 
first martyrs were two young Lutherans, 
Henrik Voes and John Esch. It was, 



— 128 — 

however, the Reformed church which 
eventually came to be established in the 
Netherlands. The country was a part 
of the empire of Charles V., and he did 
everything possible to stop the work of 
the reformers. His son Philip II., who 
had married the Bloody Mary of Eng- 
land, was a most cruel and violent man. 
By means of the horrible Inquisition he 
attempted not only to suppress the re- 
ligious reform movement, but also to 
destroy all the political liberties of the 
people. The duke of Alva was appointed 
governor of the Netherlands, and by his 
shocking cruelties proved himself a 
worthy servant of Philip II. In self- 
defense the northern provinces formed 
the Utrecht Union; and after a long and 
bloody struggle they won their inde- 
pendence and organized the Dutch re- 
public, in 1569, and established the 
Dutch Reformed church. 



— 129 — 

In France the Protestants were known 
as Huguenots. They suffered bitter 
persecutions; and many thousands of 
them were foully murdered. They were 
drawn into the long fight between the 
two great rival families, the Guises and 
the Bourbons, and in the massacre on 
the night of St. Bartholomew, August 
25, 1572, not less than 35,000 Hugue- 
nots were slain. In 1594 Henry of 
Navarre, the head of the Bourbons, be- 
came king of France. He had for poli- 
tical reasons joined the Catholic church, 
but was friendly to the Protestants; and 
in 1598 he published the Edict of Nantes, 
which gave the Huguenots equal re- 
ligious liberty with the Catholics. Later 
this Edict was revoked, and the Hugue- 
nots suffered further persecutions, es- 
pecially during the rule of the famous 
Cardinal Richelieu. The Reformed 
church has never thrived in France, 



— 130 — 



5. THE JESUITS. 



While the Lutheran church was 
making its way in the countries to the 
north, and the Reformed church in those 
to the west of Germany, the Roman 
Catholic church was not idle. It pre- 
vented the Reformation from gaining 
any foothold in Italy and Spain, and it 
recaptured nearly all of Hungary and 
France and large districts of Germany, 
Bohemia, and other countries. One of 
the measures taken to counteract the Re- 
formation was the calling together of a 
general church council at Trent. This 
council was convened by Pope Paul III., 
in 1545. It lasted, with two long inter- 
missions, until 1563. One of its first 
acts was to condemn the doctrines of 
Luther. The council also published a 
number of books defining the position of 
the Catholic church. Among them are 



-131 - 

the Tridentine Confession, the Roman 
Catechism, a new edition of the Latin 
Bible, and an index or list of those books 
which Catholics were not allowed to 
read. 

In the Council of Trent an important 
role was played by the Jesuits. This 
society was a most effective weapon in 
the hands of the pope, and deserves more 
than a passing mention. 

The founder of the order of Jesuits, or 
"Society of Jesus," was Ignatius Loyola, 
a Spanish knight, born 149 1. In one of 
the wars between Spain and France he 
was seriously wounded and lay for a long 
time on a sickbed. He read pious 
legends, and these inflamed him with the 
desire to win eternal glory in the service 
of the church. He vowed to be a knight 
of the holy Virgin, gave all his pos- 
sessions to the poor, and became a Do- 
minican monk. He prayed and fasted 



— 132 — 

and subjected himself to a course of most 
severe discipline. Then he went to the 
Holy Land, purposing to convert the 
Mohammedans, but soon found that in 
order to accomplish anything he must 
have a better school training. He there- 
fore returned to Spain, where he began 
to study and to preach. He was sus- 
pected of disloyalty to the church, and 
was for a time even imprisoned by one 
of the courts of the Inquisition. On 
regaining his liberty he went to Paris, 
and although he was now near forty 
years old, he became a regular student 
in one oi the schools. Here he and other 
Spanish students formed a religious 
society, and made the vow that they 
either would work as missionaries in the 
Holy Land, or would offer their services 
to the pope of Rome and promise him 
implicit obedience. Eventually they 
chose the latter course, and in 1540 Pope 



— 133 — 

Paul III. gave Loyola authority to 
organize the Society of Jesuits. This 
religious order soon came to wield tre- 
mendous power. Its members were 
selected with great care and were trained 
to have no will or opinions of their own, 
but with blind obedience to do the 
bidding of their general, who on his part 
acknowledged no authority but that of 
the pope. During the fifteen years in 
which Loyola was the head of the so- 
ciety it made rapid headway, and soon 
had control of many schools. Jesuits 
were to be met with everywhere and in 
all professions. They were lawyers and 
physicians and bankers and professors, 
and acquired great wealth. The one 
aim of the Jesuits was to extend the 
power of the pope. They sought to 
bring the New World under the rule of 
Rome, and in the Protestant countries 
they exerted themselves, by the Inqui- 



— 134 — 

sition and other means, to weed out the 
new ideas. The Jesuits it was who took 
Austria and Belgium and parts of other 
countries away from the Protestants, 
and who induced Philip II., the Bloody 
Mary and other Catholic sovereigns to 
slay thousands upon thousands in order 
to suppress religious liberty. In Ger- 
many the intrigues of the Jesuits finally 
brought on the horrors of the Thirty 
Years 7 War, 1618-1648, by which large 
districts were laid waste. The Prot- 
estant hero of the century was King 
Gustavus Adolfthus of Sweden, who 
fell in the battle of Lutzen, 1632. After 
the close of this war the Jesuits began 
to be regarded with suspicion by many 
Catholics. They came to be looked 
upon as dangerous to the state; and the 
society was, in the middle of the 
eighteenth century, dissolved and pro- 
hibited in France, Spain, and Portugal 



— 135 — 

In 1773 Clemence XIV., a pope who 
distinguished himself by the purity of 
his life, dissolved the Society of Jesuits 
for ever. It is generally supposed that 
he thereby signed his own death war- 
rant. At any rate he died a year later 
from eating food which had been poi- 
soned. In 1 8 14 the society was es- 
tablished anew by Pope Pius VII. , and 
it is to this day the strongest prop of 
popery. 

6. DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES IN THE 
LUTHERAN CHURCH. 

Shortly after the death of Luther the 
Lutheran church became, to some ex- 
tent, divided against itself. There were 
two parties, one of which demanded 
strict adherence to the Evangelical doc- 
trine, while the other was disposed to 
secure peace by making some con- 
cessions to the Roman and the Reformed 



— 136 — 

church. The leader of the first party 
was Mathias Flacius of the University 
of Jena, and at the head of the other 
party stood Philip Melanchton, whose 
natural timidity, now that Luther no 
longer was at his side, led him to yield 
where he should have stood firm. He 
and his adherents were accused of teach- 
ing synergism,, that is, the doctrine that 
man can assist God in the work of con- 
version. They were also charged with 
making concessions to Calvinism, es- 
pecially in regard to the doctrine con- 
cerning the real presence of the body 
and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. 
In the midst of these controversies Me- 
lanchton died, April 19, 1560. 

Professor Jacob Andrea of Tubingen 
took the lead in the attempt which was 
now made to restore peace in the 
Lutheran church. Together with Martin 
Chemnitz, Nicholas Selnecker and others 



— 137 — 

he, in 1577, compiled and edited a new- 
Confession, which was to declare in 
words not to be misunderstood the doc- 
trine of the church on the points in dis- 
pute. This Confession is called the 
Formula of Concord. It is recognized 
as one of the symbols of the Lutheran 
church, though it has not been formally 
adopted as such in all Lutheran lands. 

The first half of the seventeenth cen- 
tury is known as the age of Lutheran 
Orthodoxy. The teachers of the church 
laid great stress on the preservation of 
the true doctrine; to such an extent, in- 
deed, that they have been accused of 
forgetting the importance of the Christian 
life. The most famous of the theo- 
logians of this age was John Gerhard, 
professor in the University of Jena. — 
However, the orthodox spirit of the 
church in the seventeenth century bore 
rich fruit in the form of devotional books 



— 138 — 

and the many grand Lutheran hymns. 
Among them the best known are John 
Arndt's "The True Christianity," Chr. 
Scriver's "The Soul's Treasure," and the 
hymns of Paul Gerhardt and Thomas 
Kingo. 

As a protest against what was called 
"dead orthodoxism" there appeared, in 
the latter half of the century, the "pietistic 
movement." Philip Jacob Sftener, the 
"Father of Pietism," was a minister in 
Frankfort am Main, and afterward in Ber- 
lin, where he died in 1705. He labored 
diligently for a religious revival of the 
church, and had great influence. A new 
university was founded at Halle, and all 
its professors were chosen from among 
the pietists and were disciples of Spener. 
The best known of them is August 
Herman Francke. He built in Halle a 
great Orphans' Home, and is held in 
high regard as the founder of this branch 



— 139 — 

of practical Christian charity. While 
the vital piety of such men as Spener 
and Francke can not be doubted, it must 
be admitted that the pietistic movement 
developed some traits which were not 
altogether good. There appeared among 
the later pietists a certain disregard for 
the public church services, for the regu- 
lar office of the ministry, and for the 
sacraments, together with a fondness 
for judging others, and some carelessness 
in regard to preserving the sound doc- 
trine. A striking illustration is furnished 
by the career of Count Nicholas Zin- 
zendorf, one of the disciples of Francke. 
He organized, in 1722, a new church, 
which was to admit to membership 
Christians of all shades of belief. On 
one of his estates in Saxony he founded 
his city of Herrnhut, and there organized 
his church of the "United Brethren." 
After some years he was ordered out of 



— 140 — 

Saxony, and he then visited the different 
countries of Europe, as well as America, 
and began mission work in many places. 
When Zinzendorf died, in 1760, August 
Spangenberg became the leader of the 
United Brethren, since which time this 
church, known as the Moravian, has 
become more sober. It was and is es- 
pecially active in sending missionaries to 
the people sitting in darkness. 

Among the men of the eighteenth 
century to whom the Lutheran church 
owes a debt of gratitude should be men- 
tioned Dr. Erik Pontoppidan, who was 
bishop of Bergen, Norway; Bishop Hans 
Adolph Brorson, who is the author of 
many excellent Lutheran hymns; and 
King Christian VI. of Denmark and 
Norway, who by introducing the rite of 
confirmation in his kingdom has done 
incalculably much for the religious edu- 
cation of the people. 



141 



7. THE DIVISIONS OF THE REFORMED 
CHURCH. 

From time to time there have sprung 
up out of the Reformed church numerous 
sects and denominations, which have 
invented new doctrines almost without 
number. Only a few of the most im- 
portant of these divisions need here be 
mentioned. 

In England and Scotland those who 
did not want the Episcopal church 
government — that is, government by 
bishops — first organized themselves as 
Presbyterians, or such as are governed 
by the presbyteries. In mistaken zeal 
they insisted on doing away with even 
the most appropriate of the time-honored 
religious ceremonies or features of the 
church service, which to them seemed 
to smack of Roman Catholicism; and in 
their discipline they were strict and 



— 142 — 

austere, for which reason they came to 
be called Puritans. 

From the Presbyterians sprung the 
Independents, who were the ruling party 
in England during the protectorate of 
Cromwell in the middle of the seven- 
teenth century. The Independents 
wanted no church organization what- 
ever, except the local congregations. 
For this reason they are now known as 
Congregationalists. 

The Baptists reject infant baptism 
and insist on the baptism of adults by 
immersion and in no other way. They 
have no historical connection with the 
old Anabaptists and the Mennonites, but 
have the same doctrine in regard to 
baptism. They have become one of the 
strongest of the Reformed denomina- 
tions, and have done much mission work. 
They are divided into many factions, 
some of which still are Calvinists in the 



— 143 — 

doctrine of predestination, while others 
are Arminians and reject predestination 
altogether. 

The Society of Friends, commonly 
called the Quakers, was organized in 
England by George Fox, in 1649. He 
was a journeyman shoemaker who 
thought that he had revelations from 
heaven, and who therefore left the 
cobbler's bench and became a preacher. 
He and his friends were in the habit of 
making their way into the churches and 
disturbing the services, for which 
reason they were for a time the objects 
of bitter persecution. The great men 
among them after the death of George 
Fox were William Penn, who founded 
the American colony of Pennsylvania; 
and Robert Barclay, who is the author 
of their confession of faith. In their 
meetings the Quakers sit in silence and 
wait for the spirit to move some man or 



— 144 — 

woman to preach. Should none among 
them be moved to say anything, they as 
quietly disperse. They despise the 
sacraments, and they refuse to take an 
oath and to do military service. In the 
United States they have a high reputa- 
tion for thrift, honesty, and deeds of 
charity. 

The Methodist church was organized 
in London, in 1739, by John Wesley, 
Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield. 
The Methodists may be said to be the 
pietists of the Reformed church. The 
founders of Methodism were zealous 
young preachers from Oxford, who 
travelled from place to place holding 
meetings in the open air and preaching 
repentance. John Wesley and White- 
field visited America several times and 
made many converts; and the Methodist 
Episcopal church is numerically the 
strongest of the Protestant denomina- 



— 145 — 

tions in the United States. The 
Methodists agree with the other Re- 
formed churches in their view of the 
sacraments; besides which they teach 
that Christian perfection may be reached 
in this life. Usually their revivals are 
attended with much excitement; and 
they expect converts to be able to men- 
tion the exact moment in which they 
were saved. — An outgrowth of 
Methodism is the Salvation Army, 
founded in London by William Booth. 

8. THE CHURCH IN OUR TIMES. 

The last years of the eighteenth, and 
the early years of the nineteenth century 
are aptly called the Age of Rationalism. 
It was the age in which men, who 
thought themselves wise, began to claim 
for unaided human reason the right to 
be the supreme judge in all matters, 
including matters of religious faith. 



— 146 — 

The first open apostles of infidelity 
appeared in England. They were 
called deists, and professed a sort of 
natural religion, the only articles of 
their creed being belief in the existence 
of a Creator and the immortality of the 
soul. The principal spokesmen of this 
form of "free thought 7 ' were Lord 
Spencer, Hobbes, and Tindal. The 
writings of these men and of Spinoza, 
Descartes, and others were widely read 
in France and Germany, and had much 
greater influence in these countries than 
in England. 

In France the apostles of infidelity 
went further, and denied the truth of 
all religions. Voltaire was filled with 
bitter hatred of the Christian faith, and 
made the vain boast that he would 
destroy that which " twelve ignorant 
fishermen had built," In this attempt he 
was assisted by Jean Jacques Rousseau. 



— 147 — 

They seemed to win a victory during 
the French Revolution of 1789, when God 
was dethroned in France and replaced 
for a time by "the Goddess of Reason." 

In Germany " free thought " was 
especially cultivated and honored at 
the court of King Frederick the Great. 
After his time the University of Halle, 
which had been founded by the 
pietists, became the chief hot-bed of 
infidelity; and Prof. Johann Salomo 
Semler is the man who is most commonly 
called the "Father of Rationalism," while 
Friederich Schleiermacher of the same 
university occupies a sort of middle 
ground between open infidelity and the 
evangelical faith, and has come to have 
a baneful influence on the religious 
thought of our day. 

From Germany rationalism spread to 
the North and sapped the strength of 
the church. 



— 148 — 

In the midst of this age of infidelity 
there were, however, also many men of 
talent and piety who held aloft the old 
banner of faith. 

The new spiritual awakening among 
the Lutherans of the nineteenth century 
may be counted as having begun in 1817, 
the third centennial anniversary of the 
Reformation. On that occasion Claus 
Harms in Kiel published ninety-five 
theses against rationalism, and thus 
caused a discussion which eventually 
brought to an end the Age of Ration- 
alism in the Lutheran church. In Den- 
mark the light began to come largely 
through the instrumentality of N. F. S. 
Grundtvig, the "Seer of the North;" 
while in Norway the new day was 
ushered in by the lay preacher Hans 
Nilsen Hauge. In 1796 this man began 
to travel about and call the people to re- 
pentance. At that time this was unlaw- 



— 149 — 

ful in Norway, and Hauge was made to 
spend ten long years in prison in Chris- 
tiania. In the meantime his work was 
bearing fruit, and before his death, in 
1824, there were "Haugians" in all parts 
of the country. At the same time there 
was in Sweden a similar movement, 
stirring large numbers of the people 
with an unwonted religious fervor. 

The period which has been called the 
Age of Rationalism had come to an end, 
but the spirit of unbelief has revealed 
itself in many new forms. Churches 
have been established whose members, 
while calling themselves Christians, re- 
ject even the central truths of the Chris- 
tian faith. Others preach crass materi- 
alism, and still others hold that it is the 
part of true wisdom to eat, drink, and be 
merry, and to live without restraint ac- 
cording to the lusts of the flesh. 

The church of Christ has, however, 



— 150 — 

during the nineteenth century also, been 
fighting the good fight against the hosts 
of unbelief. Christians have especially 
been active in bringing light into the 
dark places by means of the Bible. One 
of the hopeful signs of the times is the 
fact that Bible Societies have been 
formed in nearly all Christian lands. 
First place is held by the British and 
Foreign Bible Society, which was or- 
ganized in London in 1804, anc ^ which 
has caused the Bible to be translated 
into almost all languages, and has dis- 
tributed many million copies of the sacred 
Book. Monuments of practical Christian 
charity are to be seen on every hand, 
and zealous Christian missionaries are 
laboring in all parts of the earth. 

In the Roman Catholic church con- 
ditions have remained practically un- 
changed, except in respect to the tem- 
poral power of the pope. He is no 



— 151 — 

longer the ruler of the States of the 
Church, these having, as a result of the 
revolution of 1859, become a part of the 
Kingdom of Italy. In the United States 
the Roman church has developed great 
strength; so great, indeed, that it has at 
times seemed a serious menace to poli- 
tical and religious liberty. The main 
purpose of the Evangelical Alliance of 
the Reformed churches, which was or- 
ganized in London in 1846, is to defend 
religious liberty in all lands against 
aggressions on the part of the Roman 
Catholic church. 

Our Lutheran church has, during the 
last century, had a rapid growth, and is 
by far the largest of the Protestant de- 
nominations. It still is dominant in the 
Scandinavian countries and Finland, in 
the Baltic Provinces, in some parts of 
Hungary, and in large districts of Ger- 
many. In this latter country it has, 



— 152 — 

however, had a hard struggle for exist- 
ence, especially by reason of the so-called 
Prussian Union, or alliance between the 
Lutheran and Reformed churches. King 
Frederick William III. of Prussia con- 
ceived the idea that he could do a 
service to the cause of religion by 
bringing about such an alliance. The 
assumption was that there was essential 
unity of faith between all Protestants, 
and so they were to be united in one or- 
ganization. The "old Lutherans," as 
they were called, and many others also, 
protested against this arrangement, and 
were on that account harassed and mo- 
lested in different ways, until King Fred- 
erick William IV., on his accession to the 
throne in 1840, gave them permission 
to secede from the established church 
and form the independent Evangelical 
Lutheran Church of Prussia. Before 
that time, in 1837, a considerable 



— 153 — 

number of the Lutherans had, in order 
to escape annoyance and persecution, 
emigrated to the United States. 
Among these emigrants was the one 
man who for half a century held first 
place among the Lutheran teachers of 
America, Dr. C. F. W. Walther. 
The membership of the Lutheran 
church in the United States is increas- 
ing more rapidly than is that of any 
other Protestant church. 

The open apostles of unbelief are tire- 
lessly active; and there are sects and par- 
ties almost without number. Yet we need 
have no fear that the true church of 
Christ may be overthrown, for it is 
engaged in doing the work of the 
Master, who has said : U A11 power is 
given unto me in heaven and in earth. 
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the 



— 154 — 

Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe 
all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you; and, lo, I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the worldc 
Amen." 



SEP 2 1902 



I COP niv. 

SEP. : 1902 



9EP2- 1302 



